Monday, February 17, 2025 - Ukraine may have been snubbed in peace talks between the United States and Russia, aimed at putting an end to nearly three years of war.
BBC quoted a senior Ukrainian government source.
This comes ahead of a peace talks meeting between the US and Russia
scheduled for Monday in Saudi Arabia.
Although the US special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, had said Kyiv
would be involved in the Monday talks in Saudi Arabia, the source said no
delegation would be present.
Similarly, European leaders have also not been asked to join the
discussions and are due to meet instead on Monday in Paris at a summit hastily
arranged by the French president, as fears grow the continent is being locked
out of negotiations.
The proposed meetings follow a turbulent week where Trump and his team
have been signalling a drastic change in their approach to the war between
Russia and Ukraine.
The White House’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed he was
travelling to Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening for the first face-to-face talks
between the US and Russia towards ending the conflict.
US President Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that Witkoff had met with
Putin already “for a very extended period, like about three hours”.
Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer and friend of Trump, was in
Moscow this week to secure the release of a US teacher imprisoned on charges of
marijuana possession.
US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and the National Security Advisor,
Mike Waltz are also set to meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia, less than
a week after Trump held a phone call with Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin.
The call on Wednesday brought to an end a three-year freeze on direct
contact between Moscow and Washington.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out
accepting a peace deal negotiated without Ukraine, telling US television
network NBC on Sunday that he would “never accept any decisions between the
United States and Russia about Ukraine, never.”.
0 Comments