The conversations take place in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyad and they are reported to start around eight o’clock on Tuesday morning, Swedish time.
When the official meeting takes place, it has been almost three years since Russia began the large -scale invasion of its neighboring country, which caused large parts of the world to cut the bands to Russia and keep its war crime -accused leader Vladimir Putin as a pariah.
The US government under President Donald Trump has promised to reach some form of peace solution in no time. Trump has circumvented both Ukraine and his allies in the EU and spoke directly with Vladimir Putin.
Peace or ceasefire?
On the American side, reporting providers have emphasized for various media that these are not a matter of negotiations. From a Russian point of view, it was said on Monday that the first step is to restore contacts between the countries “on a broad front”.
Ukraine says he does not accept any plan that its government has not been able to participate and negotiate. In recent weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has spoken to Donald Trump, who according to reports has made sharp demands that Ukraine give the United States soil metals for multibillion amounts in exchange for continued support.
In an interview with German ARD, Zelenskyj says that the United States seems prepared to meet Vladimir Putin, but he fears as many allies and judges that the result will be a frozen conflict:
They want to meet quickly and get a quick victory. But what they are looking for – “just a ceasefire” – is not a victory.
US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio extends his hand (right in the picture) upon arrival at Riyad.
US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio extends his hand (right in the picture) upon arrival at Riyad.
Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP/TT
“The big guys”
The United States will be represented by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz and Steve Witkoff, the president’s Middle Eastern endor, who has been given an increasing role in the Ukraine war.
Russia is represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser Jurij Usjakov.
The fact that Lavrov is traveling shows that Russia sees the negotiations as a high -level meeting, says Jan Hallenberg, professor emeritus in political science.
Now Russia and the United States will agree on this. It is the “big guys” that mean something and the “little things” in the EU and Ukraine are peripheral in this context. That’s what the Signal The Russians want to send anyway, he told TT on Monday.
The head of a state Russian investment fund, which is also on site in Riyad, says that many financial issues are on the table.
Firefighters in work in the Ukrainian metropolis of Charkiv, which is close to the border and front line. Then, on January 28, a factory had been set on fire during a Russian attack.
Firefighters in work in the Ukrainian metropolis of Charkiv, which is close to the border and front line. Then, on January 28, a factory had been set on fire during a Russian attack.
Photo: Yevhen Titov/AP/TT
Facts: Began in 2014
On February 24, 2022, Russia began a large -scale invasion of Ukraine, but the Russian forces met great resistance and a multi -year war took over. Russian forces entered the neighboring country as early as 2014, which then led to the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and a boiling conflict in Donbass in the east.
The independent Ukraine’s balance between East and West had been at the forefront in 2014, when extensive demonstrations broke out against Russia -friendly President Viktor Yanukovych since he backed from a cooperation agreement with the EU. For a few days, over 100 people were killed in the protests. Yanukovych was deposed by Parliament and fled to Moscow.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin began the large -scale war, he said he had demanded “security guarantees” and veto rights if Ukraine wants to join NATO. He has claimed that the state of Ukraine has no existence, with lies that its elected government is a “Nazi regime” that commits genocide on ethnic Russians.
Ukraine’s allies, primarily the United States and the EU, has provided the Ukrainian defense with great support and punished Russia with sanctions for the invasion war. In Moscow, the war has over time been described in existential terms, such as a conflict between Russia and a united western world.