Zelensky is in Saudi Arabia, but not for a meeting with Putin's emissaries

Exclusive. On Tuesday, February 18, the President of Ukraine will pay a visit to Saudi Arabia. A meeting of representatives of the United States and Russia will be held there in parallel. Both events are not related to each other — Ukraine was not informed about the Russian-American meeting and will not participate in it.

"Ukraine will not accept [participation]. Ukraine knew nothing about it. And Ukraine regards any negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine as fruitless. And we cannot recognize any things or any agreements about us without us. And we will not recognize such agreements," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the day before, commenting on the issue of negotiations in Saudi Arabia between representatives of the Russian Federation and the United States.

There is a bilateral track in these negotiations, "and they have the right to this if they have bilateral issues." Zelensky noted that his visit "has no connection with the issues that are happening in Saudi Arabia at the level of representatives of the United States and Russia."

"In Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the president will talk primarily about economic investment cooperation, about security in the Black Sea region, about the activity of our Black Sea routes, about food security, about the possibility of creating hubs in the Middle East with the help of these countries. That is, the economic agenda is sufficiently saturated and powerful, and the main topics will be around issues of economic cooperation," said Igor Brusylo, deputy head of the President's Office, the day before.

In particular, Ukraine is interested in expanding cooperation in the agricultural sphere with Saudi Arabia, which controls one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings. "For example, Continental Farmers Group, a company with Saudi capital, which already processes 200 hectares of Ukrainian land. They are among the top 10 largest taxpayers in the agricultural industry. Last year, more than 1,6 billion UAH were paid in the western regions," said the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Vitaly Koval following the results of the meetings during the visit of the government delegation of Ukraine to Saudi Arabia. Another example cited by the minister is the Saudi company Salic, which invested in one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings, MHP, acquiring 12,6% of its shares.

Already in May, a joint forum will be held with the participation of business representatives from both countries. During the meeting, the First Deputy Prime Minister - the Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyridenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Vitaly Koval and the Minister of Environment, Water Resources and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia Abdulrahman al-Fadly agreed on the event, which will promote the development of bilateral contacts, attract investments to Ukraine and revive trade relations. An agreement was reached on the resumption of the work of the Ukrainian-Saudi Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation.

Ukraine actively cooperates with Saudi Arabia on issues of post-war reconstruction. Riyadh has already provided $500 million in humanitarian and economic aid to restore damaged infrastructure and housing stock.

At the same time, on Tuesday, February 18, negotiations between the United States and Russia began in the capital of Saudi Arabia. The American side is represented by State Department Head Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Walz, and Middle East Special Representative Steve Witkoff. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the dictator Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov arrived in Riyadh from Russia. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, as well as the National Security Adviser Mossad bin Mohammad Al-Ayban.

The State Department the day before suggested not to consider the meeting with the Russian delegation in Riyadh as "negotiations on Ukraine". "I don't think that it should be considered as something detailed or as progress in the matter of any negotiations," said a representative of the foreign policy department on the eve of the meeting, adding that US President Trump instructed officials to "effectively monitor" the progress of negotiations with Putin.

In turn, President Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, noted on Monday, February 17, that no one will impose a peace agreement on Kyiv and that questions about whether Washington will provide guarantees for any future European peacekeepers will be discussed later. According to him, no one will impose a deal on "the elected leader of a sovereign nation."

The United States is working with Ukraine and partners in parallel. Kellogg will meet with Zelensky in Kyiv this week. Washington has sent questions to European capitals about what contribution they can make to ensuring Ukraine's security guarantees. As US Vice President JD Vance told The Wall Street Journal in an interview about Washington's possible steps if Russia refuses to settle the conflict with Ukraine. He did not rule out the introduction of new sanctions and even sending American troops to Ukraine.

The Russian dictator insists on the need to eliminate the so-called root causes of the war. "Putin mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement can be achieved through peace negotiations," said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the conversation between Donald Trump and Putin. This means that the dictator of the Russian Federation is not going to abandon the goals of destroying Ukraine, as well as restoring Russian influence on Central-Eastern Europe along the lines of the Soviet one.

Vera Perovskaya