US-Ukraine talks to take place in Saudi Arabia – DW – 03/07/2025

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said he will be meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia next Monday, adding that his team will stay on for talks with American partners to end the war in Ukraine.

“Next Monday, I have a visit planned to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with the Crown Prince. After that, my team will stay in Saudi Arabia to work with our American partners. Ukraine is most interested in peace,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X, emphasizing Ukraine’s commitment to achieve “swift and reliable peace.” 

The White House also confirmed the meeting, but said that details were still being discussed.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who also has a leading role in Ukraine talks, said the talks will likely happen in Riyadh or Jeddah. “But I think the larger discussion for us… is to get a peace deal done,” he said.

This comes days after Trump and Zelenskyy’s televised blow-up in the Oval Office over security guarantees, among other things.

The meeting appears to be a careful step in re-testing relations between the two allies without the involvement of either Trump or Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy later wrote a letter to Trump, where he even gave specifics on what the first stage of a peace process could look like, and which the US President called a “very positive first step.”

More than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European powers and the US appear to have different approaches toward peace in Ukraine.

EU leaders agreed on Thursday to boost the bloc’s defenses at a crisis summit. The bloc endorsed the European Commission’s plan to mobilize €800 billion ($860 billion) for defense spending and committed to examine a proposal to provide members with EU-backed loans of up to  €150 billion “as a matter of urgency.”

Ukrainian and European leaders strongly maintain that theUS remains an integral part of securing peace in Ukraine. But there is a growing sense of need for the European continent to be less dependent on Washington for its security.