As Washington and Moscow prepare for negotiations, Ukraine’s president said his country will not recognize any deal made without its involvement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Feb. 17 that Ukraine will not recognize any peace agreements negotiated without the participation of Kyiv, as top U.S. and Russian officials prepare to meet in Saudi Arabia for talks on mending strained ties between Moscow and Washington and advance U.S. President Donald Trump’s initiative to put an end to the Russia–Ukraine war.
“Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognize … any agreements about us without us, and will not recognize such agreements,” Zelenskyy said on Feb. 17 during a trip to the United Arab Emirates.
The Ukrainian president also urged the inclusion of a special European representative in the negotiations, emphasizing that the process should involve countries willing to take responsibility for security guarantees, provide assistance, invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction, and help prevent further Russian aggression.
Zelenskyy’s remarks came ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, for direct talks on ending the war.
Ukraine will not be present at the U.S.–Russia talks in Saudi Arabia. However, Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 16 that Zelenskyy will, at some point, be involved.
Trump also recalled his phone call last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he believes both Putin and Zelenskyy want to stop the fighting and that “we’re working very hard” to end the war.
Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, echoed Trump’s remarks on Monday. Kellogg insisted no one would impose a peace deal on Ukraine without the consent of its leadership.
Kellogg, who will not be taking part in the talks in Saudi Arabia but plans to meet with Zelenskyy in Kyiv later this week, told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 17 that nobody would impose a deal “on an elected leader of a sovereign nation.” When asked about whether there was any possibility that the United States would be involved in providing security guarantees to Ukraine, Kellogg said only that Trump’s policy is to “take no options off the table.”
By Tom Ozimek
