US – Russia Talks: Ukraine will Not Recognise any Agreement without its Participation: Zelensky
NEW DELHI, Feb 17: The Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said Kyiv was not informed of reported upcoming talks between the United States and Russia to end the Ukraine war and said his country would not recognise agreements made without its participation.
Mr Zelensky said Kyiv “did not know anything about” the talks this week and added that his country “cannot recognise any things or any agreements about us without us. And we will not recognise such agreements.”
The Kremlin on Monday said top Russian officials would hold talks with U.S. counterparts on restoring ties, negotiating a peaceful settlement to the war in Ukraine and preparing for a meeting between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov will fly to the Saudi capital later in the day to take part in the talks set for Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the U.S. delegation. Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said he and national security adviser Mike Waltz also would take part in the talks.
Mr Peskov said the talks will be primarily focused on “restoring the entire complex of U.S.-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organizing a meeting of the two presidents.”
Speaking to journalists on a conference call from the United Arab Emirates on Monday, Mr Zelensky said his country won’t take part in the talks this week, adding that they would “yield no results,” given the absence of any Ukrainian officials. European governments have also demanded a role.
The talks follow last week’s telephone call between Mr Trump and Mr Putin in which Mr Trump said they “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” The call upended years of U.S. policy, ending the isolation of Moscow over its February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine. After the call with Mr Putin, Mr Trump phoned Mr Zelensky to inform him about their conversation. Mr Trump on Sunday told reporters that Mr Zelensky “will be involved,” but did not elaborate.
Mr Zelensky said he would travel to Turkiye on Monday and to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday but that his trip to the Arab nation was unrelated to planned U.S.-Russia talks there on Tuesday. Andriy Yermak, a top Zelensky adviser, had said on Sunday that there was no possibility of Ukrainian and Russian representatives meeting directly in the immediate future. In a Telegram post, Yermak said the Ukrainians weren’t planning to do so “until we develop a plan” to end the war and bring about a “just peace.”
Mr Witkoff told the media that he and Mr Waltz would be “having meetings at the direction of the presidents,” and hope to make “some really good progress with regard to Russia-Ukraine.” He didn’t directly respond to a question about whether Ukraine would have to give up a “significant portion” of its territory as part of any negotiated settlement.
“Those are details, and I’m not dismissive of the details, they’re important. But I think the beginning here is trust-building. It’s getting everybody to understand that this war does not belong continuing, that it should end. That’s what the president has directed us to do,” he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
