Moscow ruled out concessions to Kyiv and mocked the idea of European states joining its talks with the United States on ending the war in Ukraine, as senior Russian and US officials prepared to meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
On the eve of talks in Riyadh between delegations led by the top US and Russian diplomats, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated that his country would not take part in the meeting or accept anything that was agreed “about us, without us”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov made clear that the Kremlin was sticking to its demand that Ukraine give up five regions that are now partly or fully occupied by Moscow’s troops. Russia also insists that Kyiv abandon forever its hopes of joining Nato.
“Territorial concessions to what is now called Ukraine were made by the Soviet leadership during the formation of the USSR,” said Mr Lavrov, before pouring scorn on calls from Kyiv and other western capitals that European states must be represented in any substantive talks to end the continent’s biggest war since 1945.
“I don’t know what they could do at the negotiating table. If their aim is to cunningly extract a deceptive truce while secretly preparing for continued war – true to their habits and nature – then why invite them at all?”
Mr Lavrov is expected to be joined at Tuesday’s talks by top Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, a US-educated former banker whose inclusion in the delegation suggests that economic co-operation will be discussed.
Mr Ushakov said the delegations would “discuss the restoration of normal relations, to discuss the beginning of possible negotiations on Ukraine, and to discuss prospects for contacts at the highest level ... Now the question is about agreeing on how to start negotiations on Ukraine because the American side hasn’t appointed a chief negotiator to conduct business with us.”
Washington will be represented by secretary of state Marco Rubio, US president Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Ukraine was shaken last week when Mr Trump called Russian president Vladimir Putin and said negotiations to end the war would start immediately and US defence chief Pete Hegseth told Kyiv not to expect any peace deal to include the return of all occupied territory, Nato membership or a commitment of US peacekeepers.
“Ukraine will not take part [in the talks in Saudi Arabia],” said Mr Zelenskiy on Monday. “Ukraine knew nothing about this. And Ukraine considers that any talks on Ukraine without Ukraine will have no result. And we cannot recognise any things or any agreements that are about us, without us.”
