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.
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 travelling 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 prioritise 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 normalise 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.”
Zelenskyy told EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday he wanted to strike a general framework agreement with the US that would pave the way for further, more detailed agreements on mineral resources and security guarantees.
The broader deal would start with a cessation of aerial attacks, operations at sea and strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure.
It would continue with prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by the Russian authorities, measures intended to build confidence between the two sides.
The Ukrainian president will fly to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with the Jeddah negotiations set to begin the following day.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, will lead the Ukrainian negotiating team, with foreign minister Andriy Sybiha, defence minister Rustem Umerov and deputy head of the president’s office Pavlo Palisa also taking part.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said Brussels and Kyiv were “working very, very closely together”.
While European officials say around 20 countries, led by the UK and France, have indicated they could form a “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine after any ceasefire, Trump has so far declined to commit US backing to such a force.
The US president was enraged last week when his Ukrainian counterpart suggested that an agreement to end the war was still very far away. “If somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, that person won’t be around very long,” Trump subsequently said.
But Kyiv has not given up on the US taking some form of role in any ceasefire implementation, according to European officials who have spoken with their Ukrainian counterparts ahead of the talks.
They indicate that could include, but not be limited to, the use of US satellites or signals intelligence for ceasefire verification.
NBC news reported US officials on Sunday as saying that the minerals deal would not be enough for Trump to resume aid and intelligence sharing. It added that the US president also wanted Zelenskyy to change stance on peace talks, including concessions such as giving up territory to Russia, and to move towards elections in Ukraine itself or even step down as president.
“Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war,” Zelenskyy wrote on the platform X on Saturday. “Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week that “some kind of respite is absolutely unacceptable” without a “final settlement”.
Additional reporting by Ben Hall in London
