RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that talks between the United States and Ukraine will take place in Jeddah next week, adding that the kingdom would continue to do its utmost to help end the Ukraine-Russia war.
A statement said the Kingdom welcomed the prospect of hosting the meeting and reaffirmed its ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia has facilitated multiple discussions to support a diplomatic solution over the past three years and remains committed to fostering dialogue and promoting stability.
The meeting follows recent talks in Riyadh between the US and Russia when officials discussed various international issues including the Ukraine crisis.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ahead of talks later in the week with US officials.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, had also said he was in discussions with Ukraine for a deal framework to end the three-year war with Russia, and a meeting was planned next week with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.
In February, Riyadh hosted a meeting between US and Russian officials to discuss ways to halt the Ukraine war. Ukraine was not included in those talks, raising concern in Kyiv and among its European allies.
Zelensky met Trump at the White House on February 28 but the encounter descended into acrimony when they clashed in front of the world’s media over their approaches to peacemaking.
Days after the meeting, Trump paused military aid to Ukraine as well as intelligence-sharing with Kyiv.
This will be the first high-level meeting of US and Ukrainian officials since the February 28 meeting between Zelensky and Trump.
On Tuesday, Trump said he had received a letter from Zelensky in which the Ukrainian leader said he was “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible”.
Trump, in an exchange with reporters on Thursday, said he believed his administration had made “a lot of progress” in recent days with both Ukraine and Russia, but did not specify how.
“I think what’s going to happen is Ukraine wants to make a deal, because I don’t think they have a choice,” Trump said.
“I also think that Russia wants to make a deal because in a certain different way – a different way that only I know, only I know – they have no choice either.”
Trump’s envoy Witkoff on Thursday noted that Zelensky has been apologetic in recent days about the White House blow-up and expressed gratitude.
#Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses Saudi Arabia's welcoming of hosting the scheduled meeting between the United States of America and Ukraine, which will be held in Jeddah next week. pic.twitter.com/8KMisEYu5v
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) March 7, 2025
He was wary about whether the much-touted minerals deal by Washington would be signed during the meeting in Saudi Arabia. “We’ll see if he follows through,” Witkoff added.
The proposed deal is seen by many analysts as an attempt by Kyiv to win the support of the new US administration amid tensions over Washington’s outreach to Moscow to end the Ukraine war.
Trump administration officials have said the economic pact would bind the US and Ukraine closer together.
The agreement would give the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth deposits and could be of value to US aerospace, electric vehicle and medical manufacturing.
