Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday decided to postpone his trip to Saudi Arabia, where the US-Russia high-level talks were held. His decision came after Ukraine made it clear that it would not accept the outcome of the talks since Kyiv didn't take part.
Zelenskyy told reporters that he had to postpone his visit, scheduled for Wednesday, to March 10 as he does not want "any coincidences". However, a source said the decision was because Ukraine didn’t want to appear to give anything that happened in Riyadh any legitimacy.
Zelenskyy announced his decision to postpone his Saudi visit as an answer to a journalist's query on whether he planned to meet with the American delegates during his Saudi visit. To this, Zelenskyy said the visit has been postponed and his meeting with the US delegates would happen in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy: "I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never." pic.twitter.com/iomP0elBos
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 16, 2025
Reports say that the Russian delegation plans to leave for Moscow on Wednesday, while the US delegation will stay in Saudi Arabia.
However, irrespective of Zelenskyy's stance, both Russia and the US seem to be moving forward with the talks. On Tuesday, both sides agreed to "address irritants" from bilateral relations and continue preparing negotiations on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader has also made his stance clear with regard to the meeting progressing without Ukraine's participation, stating that if US sacrifices Kyiv's demands, it would be "Afghanistan 2.0" in his country. His statement came as both President Donald Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said they do not see Ukraine joining NATO anytime soon.
The new Trump administration seem to be not in the mood to fund Ukraine anymore with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stating on social media that the American people do not want to see their taxpayer dollars endlessly being spent on the Ukraine conflict.
The US Congress has approved nearly $183 billion in aid for Kyiv since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. Kennedy, who was confirmed as the new US health secretary last week, said it was time to cut the flow of funding, in a statement on X on Sunday. "The American people will not accept hard-earned tax dollars fueling endless conflicts. We demand an end to these forever wars," he wrote. "It's time for peace! The perpetual funding is over!"
