US to assess Ukraine's peace stance in Saudi Arabia meeting

By Steve Holland, Gram Slattery and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials are planning to use Tuesday's meeting with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia in part to determine whether Ukraine is willing to make material concessions to Russia to end the war, according to two U.S. officials.

The U.S. delegation will also be watching for signs that the Ukrainians are serious about improving ties with the Trump administration after a meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy devolved into an argument last month, said one of the officials, who requested anonymity to preview the closed-door talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will fly to Jeddah on Sunday for the bilateral talks with Ukrainian officials, who will be led by Andriy Yermak, a top Zelenskiy aide. Rubio is expected to be joined by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

"You can't say 'I want peace,' and, 'I refuse to compromise on anything,'" one of the U.S. officials said of the upcoming talks.

"We want to see if the Ukrainians are interested not just in peace, but in a realistic peace," said the other official. "If they are only interested in 2014 or 2022 borders, that tells you something."

POSITION OF STRENGTH

Ukraine's European allies argue that Ukraine can only ink a deal with Russia from a position of strength and that Kyiv should not be rushed to the negotiating table with an aggressor.

Zelenskiy has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace, and that Russia will attack other European countries if its invasion of Ukraine does not result in a clear defeat.

U.S. officials met with Russian officials in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in February for separate bilateral discussions, which were focused largely on rebuilding a working relationship after a near-total freeze on official contact under former U.S. President Joe Biden.

Trump has expressed frustration with Ukraine in recent weeks, saying the eastern European nation is running out of manpower and resources, and that it needs to quickly come to the table with Russia.

His administration has cut off weapons shipments and some intelligence sharing with Kyiv in recent days, with his administration accusing the Ukrainians of not being sufficiently open to a potential peace process.

Critics say Trump's moves risk prolonging the war by strengthening Russia's hand and thus making the country less likely to lay down arms and strike an equitable peace deal.

Russian troops have been making slow but steady progress in eastern Ukraine, while thousands of Ukrainian troops who stormed into Russia's Kursk region last summer are nearly surrounded.

In a statement, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said Zelenskiy had made progress in restoring the U.S.-Ukraine relationship following his acrimonious meeting with Trump on February 28.

He pointed to comments by Trump during his address to the U.S. Congress earlier last week, when he said he had received a conciliatory note from the Ukrainian leader.

"With meetings in Saudi Arabia this coming week, we look forward to hearing more positive movement that will hopefully and ultimately end this brutal war and bloodshed," Hughes said.

Witkoff, the Middle East envoy, said publicly earlier this week that he hoped to discuss a "framework" for a potential ceasefire and peace deal during the talks.

Hanging over Jeddah is the fate of a minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine. Zelenskiy and Trump had been slated to sign that accord - which would give the U.S. access to certain mineral resources in Ukraine - during Zelenskiy's White House visit. But after the blowup between the two men, it was not signed.

Since then, both sides have expressed a renewed willingness to sign the deal, but no signing has yet occurred.

The State Department and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and Gram Slattery in Palm Beach, Florida, editing by Ross Colvin ; and Sandra Maler)