Roving Periscope: The US wrests back initiative from China in the Mideast
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With his recent threats to wipe out whatever remains of Hamas and make Gaza another ‘American enclave’, and now pushing President Volodymir Zelenkyy to Saudi Arabia for peace talks on Ukraine, US President Donald Trump has, in less than two months, wrested Western initiative in the volatile region from China which was trying to dislodge America from the Muslim world.
While the Gaza conflict is almost over, Ukraine is now the uppermost on Trump’s agenda. By making Saudi Arabia the host for Ukraine peace talks, he may next restart business with Iran to completely block China out of the region.
President Zelenskyy, who landed in Jeddah on Tuesday, met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) ahead of talks between Ukrainian and US officials that Washington hopes will deliver substantial progress towards ending the ongoing Russian war with Ukraine, the media reported.
During their meeting in Jeddah, MbS underscored his kingdom’s support for international efforts to resolve Ukraine’s crisis and achieving peace, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported early on Tuesday.
The United States, once Ukraine’s main ally, has upended its policy on the conflict in its stated pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting, engaging directly with Moscow while stopping military assistance and intelligence sharing for Ukraine, which Russian troops invaded at scale on February 24, 2022.
Trying to figure out Washington’s new approach, Kyiv has pushed for “pragmatic” relations after a disastrous Oval Office encounter between Zelenskyy and the US President descended into an unprecedented acrimony last month, witnessed by the world as it happened before the media.
Saudi Arabia has played a mediating role since Russia’s invasion, including brokering prisoner exchanges and hosting February’s talks between Moscow and Washington.
Talks on Tuesday between US and Ukrainian officials are the first official session since Zelenskyy’s abortive White House meeting, and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said he had high hopes.
“I think that we’re going over there with an expectation that we’re going to make substantial progress,” he told Fox News.
Asked if he thought Zelenskyy would return to the US to sign a minerals deal this week, Witkoff said: “I am really hopeful. All the signs are very, very positive.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a more cautious note, saying there were still details to be worked out on the minerals deal. The talks could be a success without an accord being signed, he said, and stressed the need to gauge Kyiv’s readiness to make concessions to reach peace.
Under huge pressure from Trump, Zelenskyy has been at pains to show that Kyiv is committed to ending the war soon, despite failing to win the US security guarantees that Kyiv sees as vital for any peace deal.
Still smarting, the Ukrainian President said he will not attend Tuesday’s talks with US officials, and the Ukrainian delegation will include his chief of staff, his foreign and defence ministers and a top military official in the presidential administration.
“On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media platform X.
“Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively.”
US officials said they were planning to use the meeting in part to determine whether Kyiv would make material concessions to Russia to end the war.
“We want to see if the Ukrainians are interested not just in peace, but in a realistic peace.”
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he expected good results from the upcoming talks, adding that Washington had “just about” ended a suspension of intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Rubio said Ukraine was already receiving all US defensive intelligence. “All the notion of the pause in aid broadly is something I hope we can resolve … I think what happens tomorrow will be key to that,” he said.
Even a tired Moscow is pressuring Kyiv for quick results. On the eve of the talks, Russia launched air strikes targeting Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, with the Ukrainian air force saying the country was under a threat of a missile attack.
Witkoff, who arranged the talks, said the idea is to “get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well.”
Zelenskyy 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 was a bid to buy time for Kyiv and prevent its military collapse.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv is ready to sign the minerals deal with the US, which would create a joint fund from the sale of Ukrainian minerals. Washington says it is crucial to secure continued US backing.
With US support uncertain, Zelenskyy has been urging his European allies to ramp up their support 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 in the eastern Donetsk region, having ramped up drone and missile strikes on cities and towns far from the front.
Russia has launched 1,200 aerial guided bombs, nearly 870 attack drones and more than 80 missiles at Ukraine in the past week alone, Zelenskyy has said.
