A top Trump administration official said Thursday he would travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with Ukrainian representatives for talks about a ceasefire to pause Russia’s invasion.
“We’re now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians in Riyadh, or even potentially Jeddah,” said Steve Witkoff, who serves as U.S. President Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy.
He added: “The idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well.”
He said Trump felt Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made amends after the two leaders’ confrontation in the White House last Friday.
“He felt that Zelenskyy’s letter was a very positive first step. There was an apology. There was an acknowledgement that the United States has done so much for the country of Ukraine, and a sense of gratitude,” Witkoff said.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, was in Brussels with European leaders for emergency talks.
“We will arm ourselves faster, smarter and more efficiently than Russia,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who holds the European Union's rotating presidency.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advanced a plan to loosen budget rules so countries that are willing can spend much more on defense, alongside commitments to encourage the 27 member countries to invest a total of about $863 billion in defense over the next four years.
“We are very thankful that we are not alone and these are not just words,” Zelenskyy said. “We feel it. It’s very important.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said ahead of talks that EU members would “take decisive steps forward,” while he expressed concerns about shifts in U.S. support for Ukraine under Trump.
“The future of Europe does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow,” Macron said.
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Thursday that France is sharing intelligence with Ukraine, a move that followed the United States saying it was cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that the United States had, for the moment, ended sharing its intelligence with Kyiv, although the move could be short-lived after Zelenskyy said the exchanges with Trump in the Oval Office last week had been “regrettable” and that Ukraine was ready for peace talks with Russia.
Trump earlier in the week ordered the U.S. to suspend military aid to Kyiv’s fighters.
Since the start of the war in 2022, the United States has provided Ukraine with significant intelligence, including critical information its military needs for targeting Russian forces.
Reaching a peace deal could prove difficult. Ukraine has long demanded a restoration of its internationally recognized 2014 borders before Moscow unilaterally seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Overall, Russia now holds about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including much of eastern Ukraine, and has vowed to not return any of it to the Kyiv government.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
