Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Saudi Arabia to go to the dominion’s crown prince and prime minister forward of conferences with United States diplomats centered on a bilateral minerals deal and ending Ukraine’s warfare with Russia.
Saudi state tv reported Zelenskyy’s arrival in Jeddah, a port metropolis on the Crimson Sea the place the Ukraine-US summit shall be held on Tuesday. He’ll meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, earlier than Ukrainian officers – together with International Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov – sit down with the People on Tuesday.
“Ukraine has been in search of peace for the reason that very first second of the warfare, and we now have at all times mentioned that the one purpose that the warfare is continuous is due to Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media forward of his journey.
US Secretary of State Mark Rubio arrived in Jeddah shortly after Zelenskyy. The highest US diplomat is main a delegation that additionally consists of Mike Waltz, US President Donald Trump’s nationwide safety adviser.
Rubio has mentioned you will need to clearly set up Ukraine’s intentions to succeed in a degree the place peace with Russia is feasible.
He spoke to reporters en path to the Saudi Arabian metropolis of Jeddah for Tuesday’s assembly with Ukrainian officers. Rubio careworn that it was essential to depart the assembly with a robust sense that Ukraine is ready “to do tough issues” – identical to the Russians.
Tensions have been excessive between Ukraine and the US since a February 28 Oval Workplace assembly between Zelenskyy and Trump descended into an argument, and led to the US suspending all navy help to Ukraine.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford mentioned that in Ukraine, there may be speak that Zelenskyy was planning to supply a partial ceasefire involving an finish to hostilities within the sky and at sea.
“The president is hoping this sort of message will in a roundabout way ease this strain that the US has been placing on Ukraine. We’re speaking in regards to the suspension of navy help, the suspension of full entry to intelligence sharing and satellite tv for pc imagery,” Stratford mentioned.
“Some analysts, fairly curiously, are saying that if Zelenskyy performs it proper, he might put the ball again in Russia’s courtroom – actually testing the Russians, who’ve up to now been averse to any partial ceasefire,” he added.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has mentioned Ukraine ought to resolve whether or not it needs peace.
Peskov informed reporters it’s “not essential what we count on” from the upcoming US-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
“What’s essential here’s what the US expects. And at numerous ranges, you and I’ve repeatedly heard statements that the US is ready for an illustration of the Ukrainians’ need for peace,” mentioned Peskov.
“In truth, that is most likely what everyone seems to be ready for. Whether or not the members of Zelenskyy’s regime really need peace or not – this is essential and must be determined.”
Russia advancing in Kursk
In the meantime, on the entrance line, Russian forces have stepped up strain on Ukrainian forces holding elements of Russia’s Kursk area whereas additionally attempting to realize a foothold in Ukraine’s Sumy area.
Ukrainian troopers launched their audacious offensive into Russia’s Kursk in August, catching even their Western allies off guard and dealing an embarrassing blow to the Kremlin.
However Ukraine has been shedding floor and conceded final month that it had misplaced two-thirds of the territory it as soon as managed contained in the area.
On Monday, a Russian warfare weblog, Two Majors, mentioned Russian forces have cleared the settlement of Ivashkovsky and Russian items have been advancing in Kursk from no less than seven instructions.
Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian navy blogger, mentioned he was having bother maintaining with occasions as a result of the Russian advance was so swift.
He mentioned Ukrainian items had been trapped in a number of pockets in Kursk.
“Over the previous 4 days, Russian troops have cleared as a lot territory within the Kursk area as they often couldn’t even clear in a few months,” mentioned one other Russian near the Defence Ministry who writes the weblog Rybar.
“The entrance has been pierced,” mentioned Rybar’s creator, including that Russian troops are gathering contained in the Ukrainian border to chop off the primary roads main out of Kursk to Ukraine’s Sumy area.
Nonetheless, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii mentioned that Kyiv is reinforcing its troops.
“I decided to strengthen our grouping with the mandatory forces and means, together with digital warfare and unmanned elements,” Syrskii wrote in a put up on social media.
He addressed considerations circulating in Ukrainian media that the nation’s forces could also be surrounded, saying: “At present, there isn’t any menace of encirclement of our items within the Kursk area.”
He conceded nevertheless that Ukrainian forces had been buckling underneath mounting Russian strain and had been having to fall again to positions which can be simpler to carry.
“The items are taking well timed measures to manoeuvre to beneficial defence traces,” Syrskii mentioned.
Individually, Ukraine’s military mentioned its forces had launched drone strikes hitting a number of Russian targets, together with oil refineries “supplying the invaders”.
“The defence forces proceed to take all measures to undermine the military-economic potential of the Russian occupiers and power the Russian Federation to cease its armed aggression in opposition to Ukraine,” the navy mentioned.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, nevertheless, mentioned its air defence methods had destroyed two Ukrainian drones.
The ministry wrote on Telegram on Monday that one was downed over Russia’s Belgorod area and the opposite over the Kursk area, each of which sit on the border with Ukraine.
