Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia on Friday welcomed a meeting between the United States and Ukraine due next week in Jeddah, describing it as part of the kingdom’s efforts “to end the Ukrainian crisis”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had announced he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a day before the scheduled talks between the US and the Ukrainian delegations.
“Saudi Arabia welcomes the planned meeting between the United States and Ukraine, which will be held in Jeddah next week,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement, highlighting “Saudi Arabia’s efforts to achieve lasting peace in order to end the Ukrainian crisis”.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has said that he would meet a Ukrainian delegation next week in the Gulf monarchy to discuss a ceasefire with Russia.
Relations between the United States and Ukraine have rapidly deteriorated after an explosive meeting at the White House led to Washington cutting off military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Saudi Arabia last month hosted a Russian-American meeting — the first high-level talks between the two governments since the Ukraine war began in 2022.
