President Trump says Kiev and Moscow have no choice but to secure a peace agreement to end the war.
US and Ukrainian officials have indicated they will meet in Saudi Arabia next week to discuss the peace framework to end the Russian-Ukraine war.
This follows Washington halts military aid and information sharing with Kiev this week, days after President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Voldy Meezelensky clashed at the White House.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkov met with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia next week to confirm that he would open up a framework for a peace agreement.
“We are currently discussing the matter to coordinate meetings with Ukrainians and potentially Jeddah in Riyadh, so the city is moving around a bit, but it will be Saudi Arabia,” Witkov told reporters outside the White House on Thursday.
“I think the idea is to lower the framework for a peace agreement and the first ceasefire.”
Zelenskyy also said he will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to serve as executive officers and plan consultations with US officials.
“I will be visiting Saudi Arabia to meet with the Crown Prince. After that, my team will be staying in Saudi Arabia and working with American partners,” Zelensky said in a speech Thursday night. “Ukraine is most interested in peace.”
This will be the first high-level meeting for us and Ukrainian officials since the February 28th meeting of Zelensky and Trump ended with the screaming and the Ukrainian leader being asked to leave the White House.
Following the official spat, Trump cut off sharing intelligence and aid to Ukraine.
However, on Tuesday he said that the Ukrainian leader had received a letter from Zelensky, who said he was “ready to come to the negotiation table as soon as possible.”
“Ukraine wants to do business”
Trump was traded for reporters on Thursday and said he believes his administration has recently made “a lot of progress” in both Ukraine and Russia, but he did not specify a way to do so.
“I think what happens is what Ukraine wants to make a deal because I don’t think they have a choice,” Trump said.
“I also think Russia wants to do business because in certain different ways – only I know, only I know – they have no choice either.”
Trump envoy Witkov on Thursday pointed out that Zelensky recently apologized and expressed his gratitude for the White House explosion.
He was wary of whether many famous mineral trades by Washington would be signed during a meeting in Saudi Arabia. “We’ll see if he’ll continue,” Witkov added.
The proposed contract is seen as an attempt by Kiev to win support for the new US administration amid tensions over Washington’s outreach to Moscow to end the Ukrainian war.
Trump administration officials said the economic agreement would link the US with Ukraine and suspend the Russian Ukrainian president before considering future malice towards Ukraine.
With this agreement, the US will provide access to Ukraine’s rare earth sediments, and could be valuable in US aerospace, electric vehicles and medical manufacturing.
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