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Ukraine not invited to Russia-US talks – Zelensky

Moscow and Washington will reportedly hold talks in Saudi Arabia next week to set the stage for a potential Trump-Putin summit

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Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has confirmed that Kiev was not invited to discussions between delegations from Washington and Moscow, which are expected to take place in Saudi Arabia next week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday, marking their first known direct conversation since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Saturday, the countries’ top diplomats followed up with a call to discuss “preparations for a potential high-level Russian-American summit.”

Moscow has yet to confirm any details, but according to multiple media reports, a US delegation – likely composed of national security advisers – will travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming days for talks with their Russian counterparts.

“Maybe there is something at the table, but not on our table. I didn’t see any invitations, invoices, et cetera, for Ukraine to meet with some other…,” Zelensky told journalists on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

 

 

We don’t have any papers, any invitations,” he reiterated. “And it’s something strange for me to speak in this case, in this format, if before we don’t have any negotiations between us and our strategic partners.”

The Ukrainian side was “neither invited to, nor informed about” the upcoming US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, Fox News reporter Nana Sajaia said earlier in the day, citing an unnamed senior Ukrainian official. According to Politico, there are also “no plans for representatives from other major European powers to join the talks,”while Bloomberg reported that European officials had not even been notified.

Kiev and its Western backers, including the previous US administration, have long insisted that no discussions about Ukraine’s future should take place without its direct participation. Following his call with Putin on Wednesday, Trump phoned Zelensky “to inform him of the conversation” with the Russian leader. The Ukrainian leader allegedly told Trump that he, just “like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”

Addressing attendees at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Zelensky reiterated that he was “not going to meet with Russians.”

“I will meet with one Russian only – with Putin,” he stated, stressing that he would sit down with the Russian leader to “stop the war” only after Ukraine, the US, and the EU had devised a “common plan.”

Last month, Putin stated that while it is “possible to negotiate with anyone,” Zelensky no longer has the legitimacy to override his own decree banning talks with the Russian president. Zelensky’s presidential term expired in May 2024, but he has refused to hold elections, citing martial law. The Kremlin has stressed that any potential peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev must be legally binding.

Trump has also acknowledged that Kiev will eventually have to hold elections and noted that Zelensky might not serve another term, saying his domestic poll numbers “aren’t particularly great, to put it mildly.”

Author: Editors Desk

Source: RT

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