Talks in Saudi Arabia: Ukraine pushes for U.S.-led ceasefire
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov will be the head of the Ukrainian delegation during talks in Saudi Arabia, Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday.
- Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov will lead the Ukrainian delegation in the talks in Riyadh.
- The meeting will address the details of the ceasefire in the war with Russia.
- Ukraine has accepted the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia has not agreed to the proposed conditions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated: "We instructed our teams to resolve technical issues related to implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire. Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue co-ordinating steps toward peace."
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi emphasized that the meeting scheduled for Monday in Riyadh is not political but technical. "This is a meeting to establish the parameters for the various proposed ceasefire options currently on the table," said Tykhyi.
"We need to understand how it will work"
The spokesman noted that if Vladimir Putin and Russia "agreed to this proposal, the ceasefire could already be in effect." "Instead, we see various new conditions from the Kremlin," Tykhyi added, "some talks, some proposals, manipulations, and so on," emphasizing that Ukraine regards the talks in Riyadh as bilateral Ukrainian-American negotiations and views them "as a technical round, not a political one."
"Therefore, details and implementation of decisions that have already been made at the political level will be discussed there. This means that professionals from the Ukrainian and American sides should meet to find out how it should look. We need to understand how it will work, who will control it, how it will be monitored," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman conveyed.
He noted that the Ukrainian side does not know how Americans will communicate with the Russians in Saudi Arabia. "It's their choice. But we're preparing for the talks in Saudi Arabia as a bilateral Ukrainian-American event," he declared.
This week, US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump and Putin agreed to a 30-day ceasefire regarding energy facilities and infrastructure, but this agreement is narrower than the American proposal Ukraine accepted.
