Zelensky Decries Peace Talks Without Ukraine, Trump Says He Had His Shot For Years
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky complained that peace talks about Ukraine are taking part without his country's participation and seemingly to Russia's benefit. Speaking to reporters after the U.S. and Russia wrapped up the first sessions of negotiations to stop the nearly three-year-old war, Zelensky said he wants the conflict to end, 'but we want it to be fair and that no one decides anything behind our backs.' Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to blame Ukraine for not seeking an earlier peace deal and sided with the Russian position that Zelensky should face new elections.
'You cannot make decisions without Ukraine on how to end the war in Ukraine, on any conditions,' he stated after meeting with Turkish President Recep Erdogan.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who hosted the talks in Riyadh, originally invited Zelensky to take part in the meeting. However, both the U.S. and Russia objected, according to Bloomberg, citing sources.
"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."https://t.co/LKufBpfanp
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) February 18, 2025
Tuesday afternoon, U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed concerns that Ukraine has not had a seat at the table during the negotiations, essentially blaming Kyiv for not negotiating a way out of the war earlier.
'They're upset about not having a seat, well, they've had a seat for three years, and a long time before that,' Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon. 'This could have been settled very easily…'
Trump's message to Ukrainians who feel let down by his administration:"I hear they're upset about not having a seat. Well, they've had a seat for three years." pic.twitter.com/Gz4GHiawYT
— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) February 18, 2025
Trump echoed comments earlier in the day by a top U.S. negotiator who pushed back on the notion that Ukraine and European allies are being left out of this process.
'If you're going to bring both sides together, you have to talk to both sides,' said U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who took part in the Riyadh peace talks. 'And we'll continue to remind everyone literally within minutes of President Trump hanging up with President Putin he called and spoke with President Zelensky. So shuttle diplomacy has happened throughout history, it's happened all over the world. We are absolutely talking to both sides.'
Waltz was part of high-ranking delegations from Washington and Moscow that met for nearly five hours in the Saudi capital to find a way to end the conflict. They came away with a four-point agreement focused mostly on improving U.S.-Russian relations that badly deteriorated after Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. It called for normalizing bilateral relations, creating 'high-level' teams to find a way to end the war 'as quickly as possible,' laying the groundwork for future bilateral political and economic agreements and pleading to keep the peace process moving forward.
The four points were drastically different from positions Rubio held while a U.S. Senator before becoming Secretary of State.
The talks, led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, were a stunning turnaround from the stance Washington held under the Biden administration. After Russia launched its full-on invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, then-President Joe Biden organized an international effort to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and impose harsh economic sanctions on his country. Today's agreement opens the door to reversing that.
'Should this conflict come to an acceptable end, the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians, geopolitically on issues of common interest, and frankly economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and will also improve our relations in the long term between these two important countries,' Rubio told reporters in Riyadh after the talks wrapped up.
Rubio's comments caused consternation among allies. The negotiations were held without Russia offering any concessions and as U.S. relations with Europe are plummeting in the wake of the Trump administration's sudden foreign policy shifts.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after meeting with Russian officials in Riyadh today:There is an incredible opportunity to partner with the Russians geopolitically, on issues of common interest, and, frankly, economically. pic.twitter.com/zPNFo016i5
— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 18, 2025
Rubio deflected a question about whether Trump would end the sanctions.
'There are sanctions that were imposed as a result of this conflict. And so I would say to you that in order to bring an end to any conflict there has to be concessions made by all sides,' Rubio explained. 'We're not going to predetermine what those are. We're certainly not going to negotiate this today or in a press conference for that matter.'
Any future deal will also involve a discussion about Ukrainian territory seized by Russia, said Waltz.
'We know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory and there is going to be a discussion of security guarantees,' he stated.
That territory could conceivably include not just land Russia captured, which is about 20% of Ukraine including Crimea, but territory it annexed from four Ukrainian regions which is even larger. Waltz said that is on the table as well.
'I think that those are things to be discussed,' he told reporters.
REPORTER: Is it acceptable to the US for Russia to retain any territory that it has annexed since the beginning of the war in February 2022?MIKE WALTZ: Well I think those are things, those are to be discussed pic.twitter.com/bO7CVuGpzZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 18, 2025
Speaking to reporters after the meeting as well, Lavrov echoed Rubio's goals and said that Washington and Moscow agreed to appoint representatives to carry out 'regular consultations' on Ukraine.
'I have reason to believe that the American side has started to better understand our position,' the Russian foreign minister said.
That position may be just a stalling tactic, intelligence officials and political leaders told NBC News.
'…intelligence from the United States and close allies shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to control all of Ukraine,' the network reported, citing four Western intelligence officials and two U.S. congressional officials.
'We have zero intelligence that Putin is interested in a real peace deal right now,' one of the congressional officials said.
'He thinks he's winning,' one of the Western intelligence officials said, adding that Russian losses on the battlefield are not pressuring Putin to stop fighting.
No way! Putin isn't interested in a real peace deal and just wants more land? Shocking. Unbelievable. Never saw that coming. pic.twitter.com/SaGCrGbTZA
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) February 18, 2025
Meanwhile, European leaders left out of the negotiations and angered by how the U.S. is handling the process, continued to find a way to play a role. French President Emmanuel Macron is planning a second meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, to find ways to guarantee Ukraine's security, Reuters reported. Additional European nations and Canada were invited to take part.
That follows a meeting held in Paris on Monday seeking commitments for a European peacekeeping force on the ground in Ukraine to bolster any successful negotiation to end the war. The meeting ended without a consensus.
Foreign troops on Ukrainian soil after a peace deal is a non-starter, Lavrov said.
'The presence of troops from NATO countries, whether under foreign flags, EU flags, or their own national flags, does not change anything. This is, of course, unacceptable to us,' the Russian foreign minister exclaimed.
Lavrov: NATO or EU troops in Ukraine are unacceptable"The presence of troops from NATO countries, whether under foreign flags, EU flags, or their own national flags, does not change anything. This is, ofcourse, unacceptable to us," Lavrov pic.twitter.com/0gBN9kgsiN
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) February 18, 2025
On Monday, Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya outlined another key demand of the talks, making it clear that Moscow wants to force Zelensky out of office. The Russian ambassador called Zelensky 'the self-proclaimed Ukrainian president' and referred to his government as 'the Zelensky cabal,' saying that neither had 'a role to play in the new Ukraine.'
However, Zelensky won the second round of Ukraine's 2019 presidential election in a landslide and there have been no elections because the country is under martial law and voting has been considered logistically unfeasible and challenging after so many residents fled the war.
Despite that, Trump seemed to concede that Nebenzya's point as well Tuesday afternoon.
Zelensky wants 'a seat at the table… but the people of Ukraine have to say, like, 'you know, it's been a long time since we've had an election,'' Trump told reporters. 'That's not a Russia thing. That's something coming from me and coming from many other countries also.'
REPORTER: 'We're hearing that Russia wants to force Ukraine as a condition for a peace deal. Is that something the US would support?'TRUMP: 'We have a situation where we haven't had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law … the leader in Ukraine, I hate to say it, but… pic.twitter.com/JILCUKjcx4
— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) February 18, 2025
While today marks the first time high-level meetings were held between the U.S. and Russia since the all-out war in Ukraine began, this is an extremely fragile process, something Rubio acknowledged.
'Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey but an important one,' he explained, heaping praise on Trump for being 'the only leader in the world that could initiate that process.'
No date has yet been set on when Ukraine will get a seat at the negotiating table. Clearly angered, Zelensky said he expects a delegation led by Trump peace envoy Keith Kellogg to arrive in Kyiv on Thursday. However, it remains to be seen whether that visit will make the Ukrainian leader any more reassured about how this peace process will play out.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
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