Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of talks in Jeddah between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia.
Saudi Arabia has played various mediating roles since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including brokering prisoner exchanges and hosting talks between Moscow and Washington last month.
The Ukrainian and US officials are scheduled to hold three days of discussions in the Red Sea port city, but Mr Zelenskyy is not expected to participate directly and will instead meet Prince Mohammed in Riyadh.
"I don't think he'll be part of our meetings," Mr Rubio told reporters who were travelling with him. "Our meetings are with the delegation."
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has said Washington wants “to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire” during the talks, which are due to start on Tuesday. Mr Rubio will explore how to advance US President Donald Trump's goal to end the war, the US State Department said.
"The important point in this meeting is to establish clearly their intentions, their desire, as they said publicly now numerous times, to reach a point where peace is possible," Mr Rubio said. "And then we'll have to determine how far they are from a Russian position, which we don't know yet either, and then once you understand what both sides truly are, it gives you a sense of how big the divide is and how hard it's going to be."
Mr Rubio said both side would be required to make compromises. "The Russians can't conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it'll be very difficult for Ukraine, in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014 so the only solution to this war is diplomacy and getting them to a table where that's possible," he said.
He said he was hoping for "positive interaction" with the Ukrainian delegation, which would be in stark contrast to the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office late last month.
That meeting, which was played out in front of the White House press corps, descended into a row, with Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance accusing Mr Zelenskyy of not being grateful for US aid. The Ukrainian delegation eventually left the White House after the awkward diplomatic exchange.
Talks are expected to involve Mr Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz, along with Mr Zelensky's national security adviser and foreign and defence ministers.
Washington, once Ukraine's main ally in the war, has upended long-standing US policy in its stated pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting, engaging directly with Moscow while cutting off military assistance and intelligence sharing for Kyiv.
Tuesday's talks in Saudi Arabia are expected to focus on a bilateral minerals deal between the US and Ukraine as well as how to end the conflict. They are the first official meeting between the two sides since the encounter between Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Trump late last month.
Under huge pressure from Mr Trump, Mr Zelenskyy has since been at pains to show they are on the same page, despite failing to win promises of US security guarantees that Kyiv sees as vital for any peace deal.
Mr Trump has renewed communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticised Mr Zelenskyy, raising fears in Kyiv and among European allies that he may try to force Ukraine to accept a settlement favouring Russia.
It is not clear why Saudi Arabia picked Jeddah to host this week's talks as opposed to the Saudi capital Riyadh, where Russia-US talks took place last month. However, Jeddah has hosted other diplomatic engagements in the past and is home to royal palaces.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said the kingdom would continue to pursue “a lasting peace to end the Ukrainian crisis”.
“The kingdom has continued these efforts over the past three years by hosting many meetings on this matter,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Last month Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Mr Rubio in Riyadh, agreeing to resume dialogue and start talks on the Ukraine conflict.
Mr Zelenskyy has visited Saudi Arabia several times since Russia's invasion in 2022 but postponed a trip last month, citing a lack of an invitation to the Russia-US talks.
Mr Witkoff has said Mr Trump's team have a “really good relationship with the Saudis”.
The Ukrainian delegation at this week's Saudi talks will include Mr Zelenskyy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak, his Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.
“On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively.”
Mr Zelenskyy has called for a truce in the air and at sea, as well as a prisoner exchange, in what he says could be a test of Russia's commitment to ending the war. Moscow has rejected the idea of a temporary truce, which has also been proposed by Britain and France, saying it is a bid to buy time for Kyiv and prevent its military collapse.
The Ukrainian leader has also said Kyiv is ready to sign the minerals deal with the US. It would create a joint fund from the sale of Ukrainian minerals. Washington says the deal is crucial to secure continued US backing.
With US support in question, Mr Zelenskyy has been urging European allies to ramp up their backing as Kyiv's battlefield position deteriorates and it faces mounting pressure to retreat from Russia's Kursk region.
Russia holds around a fifth of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014, and its troops are also pressing forward in the eastern Donetsk region, having increased drone and missile strikes on cities and towns far from the front line.
Russia has launched 1,200 aerial guided bombs, nearly 870 attack drones and more than 80 missiles at Ukraine in the past week alone, Mr Zelenskyy said.
