Zelenskiy Out in Cold as US Discusses Ukraine’s Fate With Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is casting around for scraps of second-hand information as officials from the US and Russia discuss the future of his country.

As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh on Tuesday, Zelenskiy was in Turkey as part of a regional tour, seeking to shore up international support. On Wednesday, he heads over to the Saudi capital where he’s hoping for a readout on the US-Russia talks from Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

“I will ask what he knows about this,” Zelenskiy said during an official visit to the United Arab Emirates Monday. “Just curious,” he added.

That the leader feted around the world for defying Russia’s February 2022 invasion is reduced to asking an intermediary about talks that may affect his nation’s survival underlines the seismic shift in US diplomacy since Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin last week.Prince Mohammed had wanted Zelenskiy to be represented at the talks but both the Americans and the Russians had insisted that they wanted to meet without the Ukrainians, according to a person with knowledge of the Saudi preparations. MBS, as the de facto Saudi ruler is known, is planning to brief the Ukrainian president on the kingdom’s role in convening the talks as well as his discussions with Russian and US officials, the person said, asking not to be identified because the issue is sensitive.

Rubio’s predecessor as the top US diplomat, Antony Blinken, made clear how serious that diplomatic snub might be with his reflections on how high-stakes negotiations play out at last year’s Munich Security Conference.

“If you’re not at the table in the international system,” the then-Secretary of State observed, “you’re going to be on the menu.”

Trump’s phone call with Putin last week and the prospect of a summit meeting between them indicates the breathtaking speed at which the new US administration is moving to try to reach a deal to end the war.

Alongside European leaders shocked by the unfolding events, Zelenskiy is scrambling for ways to influence Trump and avoid a take-it-or-leave-it deal that would risk alienating Ukraine’s biggest military ally if he rejected the ultimatum.

Ukraine “knew nothing about” the Riyadh meeting, Zelenskiy said in Abu Dhabi. “We cannot recognize anything or any agreements about us without us.”

Zelenskiy expects Trump’s Ukraine and Russia envoy Keith Kellogg to visit Kyiv later this week, and said he plans to take him to the frontline to see the situation with his own eyes.

“I think he will not refuse,” Zelenskiy said. “It is important for us that he understands everything and brings it to the White House.”

Zelenskiy had been arguing before the Riyadh meeting that the US, Ukraine and Europe should agree a position between themselves and then talk to Russia. While Trump has invited him for talks in Washington, no date has been announced.

Instead, the US has asked European nations to spell out what security guarantees they’re willing to provide Ukraine to ensure a lasting peace settlement and how allies should react if any troops they deploy were attacked by Russia.