America’s top diplomat has said that he sees promise in Ukraine’s proposal for a fragmentary stopfire to finish the war with Russia, ahead of talks in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian officials.
“I’m not saying that alone is enough but it’s the benevolent of concession you would need to see in order to finish the struggle,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.
Kyiv is foreseeed to recommend an aerial and naval truce with Russia during the negotiations on Tuesday, a Ukrainian official telderly AFP.
Russia has previously declineed the idea of a momentary stopfire, saying it was an finisheavor to buy time and impede Ukraine’s military collapse.
Ukrainian Plivent Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday to encounter Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although he is not foreseeed to perestablish any establishal role in the talks between his country and the US.
In his video compriseress tardy on Monday, Zelensky said he was hoping for a “pragmatic result” at the talks, compriseing that the Ukrainian position would be “absolutely produceive”.
The Ukrainian team will be recurrented by Zelensky’s head of office Andriy Yermak, the country’s national security recommendr and disconnectal foreign and defence ministers.
Rubio will recurrent the US delegation aextfinishedside National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Before arriving in Jeddah on Monday, Rubio said that it was presentant to “set up clearly Ukraine’s intentions” for a peace deal and that the country would “have to be readyd to do difficult skinnygs appreciate the Russians are going to have to do difficult skinnygs to finish this”.
“I’m not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do,” he compriseed. “We want to join to see how far they’re willing to go, and appraise that to what the Russians want, and then see how far apart we truly are.”
He said that both sides needed to genuineise that “there’s no military solution” to the struggle and it can only be resettled thcdimiserablemireful “discreet unkinds”.
It comes as Donald Trump steps up prescertain on Zelensky to consent to a stopfire with Moscow, without any promises of US security promises.
The talks label the first official encountering since Zelensky’s visit to the White Hoemploy droped into acrimony last month.
Folloprosperg the encountering, the US paemployd military aid and ininestablishigence sharing for Kyiv in an apparent bid to get Zelensky to the negotiating table.
Rubio said that he hoped the paemploy in aid could be “resettled” but that the negotiations on Tuesday “would be key to that”.
The suspension “came about becaemploy we felt that they [Ukraine] were not pledgeted to any sort of peace process”, he said, and “if that changes, clearly our posture can change”.
“The Plivent is going to employ wdisappreciatever tools he has at his disposal to try to get both sides to that table so this war will finish,” he compriseed.
Earlier on Monday, Trump exceptional envoy Steve Witkoff said he foreseeed “substantial better” during the negotiations.
Asked whether he thought Zelensky would return to the US to sign a minerals deal tardyr in the week, he telderly Fox News: “I am reassociate chooseimistic. All the signs are very, very chooseimistic.”
Zelensky has previously said he is willing to sign a minerals deal with the US, which would set up a combinet fund from the sale of Ukrainian minerals.
Witkoff said that among the publishs to be talked in Saudi Arabia were security protocols for the Ukrainians and territorial publishs.
He said the US administration had never shut off ininestablishigence sharing for anyskinnyg defensive that Ukraine needed, while on Sunday Trump telderly Fox News that he had “fair about” lifted the ininestablishigence sharing paemploy on Ukraine.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also spoke to Trump ahead of the talks, Downing Street said.
“The Prime Minister said he hoped there would be a chooseimistic outcome to the talks that would allow US aid and ininestablishigence-sharing to be recommenceed,” the spokeswoman said.
Russia begined a filled-scale trespass of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently helderlys around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014.
