Russia and US to meet for talks on Ukraine’s future after sidelined European leaders gather for emergency summit
Top Russian and American diplomats are converging on Saudi Arabia for talks on the future of Ukraine, while European leaders rush to shore up military support for Kyiv.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister and the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, are set to meet in Riyadh on Tuesday in discussions that will exclude both Ukraine and Europe. They are also being held against a background of Kremlin assumptions that the new Trump administration is keen to re-set relations with Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Separately, European leaders are holding an emergency gathering in Paris on Monday, amid concerns they are being frozen out of discussions on any potential ceasefire deal.
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Mr Lavrov said he saw no role for Europe at the table, adding that there would be no talk of territorial concessions to Ukraine, around 20% of which is controlled by Russian forces.
“If they’re [Europe] going to come up with some crafty ideas about freezing the conflict like this, and they themselves … have in mind the continuation of the war, then why invite them?” he said on Monday. “Territorial concessions to what is now called Ukraine were made by the Soviet leadership during the formation of the USSR. “How should we give in – with Russian people or with rare earth metals?” Lavrov added, referring to a deal Mr Trump is planning on striking with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed his country would not be taking part in the talks between the Kremlin and Washington.
“Ukraine did not know anything about it,” he told reporters in a virtual briefing from the United Arab Emirates, where he is on a state visit. “Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognise … any agreements about us without us.”
Ahead of the European meeting, Sir Keir Satmer said that he was prepared to put British troops “in harm’s way” to ensure Ukraine’s security as part of a future peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Sir Keir said the UK was “ready to play a leading role… [which] means being ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary”.
“I do not say that lightly. I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way,” he wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
Sweden joined the UK in backing an international force to guarantee Ukraine’s safety, which Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said would need to number at least 150,000. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday, adding that negotiations would need to progress before any such decision was taken. However, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country would not send troops.
Emanuel Macron, who is hosting the informal summit, has suggested in the past that British and French troops might be deployed to Ukraine to underwrite a peace deal with Russia.
With Ukraine and Europe shut out of the talks about the future of Ukraine, and Europe, Starmer’s efforts were part of an attempt to quickly build a European consensus around defending Kyiv whatever concessions were made by Trump’s team in future talks.
