Ukraine will try to persuade the US to resume intelligence and military support in high-stakes bilateral talks this week by convincing Donald Trump that Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants a swift end to the war with Russia, SİA informs via Financial Times.
Officials briefed on preparations for the negotiations in Saudi Arabia said Kyiv was set to propose a partial ceasefire with Russia for long-range drone and missile strikes and combat operations in the Black Sea, in the hope that the talks’ progress would lead Washington to reverse its decision to freeze intelligence sharing and weaponry supplies.
Ukrainian negotiators are traveling to Saudi Arabia on Monday after the first days without US support led to the country’s troops giving up Russian territory they seized last year in the Kursk region.
One Ukrainian official added that Kyiv would in the short term prioritize fixing its ties with the US, while two European officials said Kyiv saw progress in the ceasefire talks as a quid pro quo for restarting military and intelligence aid. “The goal of any negotiations between Ukrainian and US authorities in Saudi Arabia will be, in particular, to agree on a resumption of assistance,” Fedir Venislavskiy, a Ukrainian MP from Zelenskyy’s party and a member of parliament’s national security committee, said late last week.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be in the Saudi city of Jeddah from Monday to Wednesday for the talks, with a brief to “advance the president’s goal to end the Russia-Ukraine war”, a spokesperson said. In comments on Fox News on Sunday, Trump did not mention the bilateral talks directly but said he was confident that a “valuable” minerals deal would be signed with Kyiv soon. He rejected criticism that he had been comparatively soft towards Moscow, which he threatened with sanctions last week after suspending the aid to Ukraine. “Nobody has been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump,” he said.
The US pressure on Kyiv has forced Zelenskyy’s administration to shift its position after a disastrous meeting on February 28 at the White House.
“The tactics have changed,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst based in Kyiv. “Now the most important [thing] is to normalize the relations with the US and, if before the plan was to get security guarantees first and then push for a ceasefire, it’s now obvious it won’t happen in that order.” He added: “Trump says that Ukraine doesn’t want a ceasefire, so the goal for us is to show the US that we’re ready to act as quickly as possible and to start direct negotiations with Russia.”
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