US officials are set to meet their Ukrainian counterparts today (March 11) in Saudi Arabia.
The development comes in the aftermath of the disastrous interaction between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump during a White House visit in February.
The US delegation will also be looking for signs that the Ukrainians are serious about improving ties with the Trump administration, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Jeddah to hold bilateral talks with Ukrainian officials led by Andriy Yermak, a top aide to President Zelenskyy.
He will be accompanied by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
“We’re going to make a lot of progress, I believe, this week,” Trump said.
The US president expressed optimism about the talks.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said that he would travel to Saudi Arabia to “continue to work for the sake of peace.”
But Saudi Arabia is an unusual venue for talks aimed at smoothing over relations after the blowup.
The Kingdom under its assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been positioning itself as an ideal location for possible peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.
Content retrieved from: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/ukraine-gears-up-for-talks-with-us-in-saudi-arabia-what-you-need-to-know-13870286.html.
