Shortly after the opening meeting of the United States with Russian officials on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky, from Ukraine, was unleashed to the Trump administration negotiation tactics in his most difficult terms to date To exclude Ukrainians from talks on the fate of their own country.
The talks in Riyadh ended with an agreement to establish teams to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine and normalize relations, and with optimistic declarations and promises for closer ties between the United States and Russia – Pursuing a thaw in the relations that kyiv and the European allies have found an annoying.
Zelensky protested his exclusion from discussions by canceling his own trip planned in the Saudi capital.
“Decisions on how to end the war in Ukraine can be taken without Ukraine, and no condition can be imposed,” said Zelensky from Turkey, where he had traveled as part of a visit planned from the Middle East. “We were not invited to this Russian-American meeting in Saudi Arabia. It was a surprise for us, I also think for many others. »»
Ukraine, he said, learned the plans for media collection. Mr. Zelensky suggested that he intended to meet US officials after the rally in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, during a state visit previously planned in Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t know who will stay, who will leave or who plans to go where. To be honest, I don’t care, ”he said. “I don’t want coincidences, and that is why I will not go to Saudi Arabia.”
Ukraine has looked for talks that would offer protection by future assaults by Russia, with a commitment to adhesive to NATO or to peace soldiers deployed in the war zone. Ukraine has also asked the nations to examine the proceedings for Russian war crimes and the repairs of a conflict which leveled entire cities and killed and injured tens of thousands of civilians, as well as a million soldiers on both sides.
These types of requests were far from the conversation in Riyadh, where American negotiators rather focused on “incredible opportunities” that would accompany an improved relationship with Moscow, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But Mr. Zelensky insisted that the terms of any negotiated regulation without Ukraine being “imposed” in Ukraine.
The sharp remarks represented a change compared to Mr. Zelensky, who tried to travel a fine line in the face of the declarations of the Trump administration, avoiding direct criticism. He praised recent speeches and interviews during the weekend, President Trump could be able to put pressure on Russia in NBC in a regulation because Mr. Putin feared him.
But while the meeting in Riyadh came together, he sharpened his criticism of the negotiation process.
In an interview with the German broadcaster Ard on Monday, Mr. Zelensky said that the United States was looking for a quick ceasefire by “saying things Putin really likes”. The goal of the American negotiators, he said, was to go quickly to a presidential summit with Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin and to announce a truce.
“But what they want, just a cease-fire is not a success,” said Zelensky.
The United States and European nations, he said, should first describe the terms of post-war security in Ukraine, and he insisted that Russia accepts security guarantees to prevent violations or the resumption of war.
Mr. Zelensky compared the talks in Russia-US who opened in Saudi Arabia at the end negotiated to the American military presence in Afghanistan, who opened the door to the return of the Taliban in power after a 20-year American war. The United States has negotiated directly with the Taliban, eliminating the Afghan government supported by the Americans.
“I do not think that anyone interested in Afghanistan 2.0,” said Zelensky in an interview broadcast before the end of Saudi talks. “We remember what happened in Afghanistan when the Americans left in a hurry.” This withdrawal, he said, was an example of “what can happen when someone does not end, does not think and does not hastily leave”.
In a sign, the negotiations in Riyadh have made no immediate change in the way war takes place, antiharircraft gunshots have traced in kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, to repel drones that explode Russians approximately Seven hours after discussions.
The United States has been the largest military and financial assistance provider in Ukraine since the total invasion of Russia in 2022, although the nations of the European Union have collectively supplied more. Several European Heads of State, also excluded from talks, met in Paris on Monday to assess what European military assistance or peacekeeping countries could commit to ensuring a possible sale.
Ukraine depends on the United States for satellite intelligence and aerial defenses, including Patriot interceptors, which are its only reliable shield against Russian ballistic missiles. Land troops depend less on American weapons, because the fight has evolved during the war. Explosive drones in Ukraine are now making the majority of victims over Russian troops.
During the war, Ukraine fought the army much greater and better equipped with Russia with a quasi-stop, although Momentum is now clearly in favor of Russia. Since November 2022, around half of 1% of Ukrainian lands have changed hands in a violent but largely static fight. Russia now slips forward into a bloody but slow offensive in the region of the eastern Donbas of Ukraine.
“At this stage, it is clear that none of the parties will win this war on the battlefield,” said Zelensky on Tuesday. “Russia wanted this, it failed. No one believed in Ukraine, but we proved and defended our independence at an incredibly high cost in the lives of our soldiers, our people. This proves that a change towards diplomacy must occur, but it must lead to just peace. »»
Zelensky said he hoped to reach an agreement with the Trump administration, which would exchange a share of natural resources profits for military aid. A Trump administration proposal required half of the government’s product of natural resources, said a familiar official with the proposal.
Mr. Zelensky fell to the agreement, saying that he had detailed any security commitment from the United States in exchange.
“This is a very important question for us, and we are very interested in signing an agreement” with the United States, said Mr. Zelensky on Monday in a video call with journalists in kyiv from Abu Dhabi, at Emirates United Arab.
Zelensky, however, said that Europe was also interested in investing in Ukraine. “I told our American partners that we also had European offers,” he said. Zelensky said that any agreement on resources in Ukraine should consider other donors to the Ukrainian war effort.
Maria Varenikova contributed Kyiv reports.
