Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine's position during talks today in Saudi Arabia with a US government delegation will be completely constructive, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
„We hope for practical results“, Zelensky said in an article in "Ex". „Ukraine's position in these negotiations will be completely constructive,“ he emphasized.
Zelensky, who visited Saudi Arabia on the eve of the negotiations, spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. After their talks, he announced that the two had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine.
During today's talks between Ukraine and the United States, Kiev is expected to propose a ceasefire with Moscow by air and sea, adds Agence France-Presse, citing a senior Ukrainian official.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, before arriving in Saudi Arabia, yesterday described this idea as promising. He added that he did not want to say that this would be enough, but that this was the kind of concessions needed to end the conflict.
Rubio also expressed hope that the suspension of US military aid to Kiev could be resolved during discussions in Saudi Arabia.
This will be the first meeting between Ukrainian and American officials since Zelensky's disastrous meeting with Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the Oval Office of the White House, after which Trump suspended US aid to Ukraine, notes Agence France-Presse.
During the discussions today in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine will be represented by the head of the presidential administration Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Zelensky's deputy chief of staff - Pavlo Palisa.
The US delegation will include high-ranking officials who met with a Russian delegation in Riyadh in February, notably Marco Rubio and White House National Security Adviser Mike Walz.
After his meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, Zelensky proposed the release of prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children to their homeland on the eve of talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on a possible peace agreement between his country and Russia, DPA reported. This “could become a key step in building trust in diplomatic efforts“, Zelensky wrote in “Ex” after meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Ukrainian government accuses Russia of abducting thousands of children since Moscow launched a war against Ukraine in February 2022. Two years ago, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegedly abducting Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine to Russia. Moscow calls these cases evacuations.
The prisoner exchange communication is practically the only channel of dialogue that still functions between Kiev and Moscow. The warring parties have already exchanged thousands of prisoners in several operations. It is not clear how many prisoners are still on both sides, DPA notes.
"We are Vladimir Putin's useful idiots". This harsh attack on the administration of US President Donald Trump was made unexpectedly by a member of the family of Vice President J.D. Vance, ANSA notes, "The Guardian" and "Figaro", quoted by BTA.
This is Nate Vance, who is a cousin of J.D. Vance and who says he fought on the front lines in Ukraine against Vladimir Putin's Russian forces. He spoke to the French publication "Figaro", and the article with his conversation was published in the paid version of the French newspaper, in both French and English.
In front of the French publication, Nate condemned the attitude shown to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during his recent visit to the Oval Office of the White House.
47-year-old Nate Vance is a native of Texas. He says that he was in Ukraine for three years, two and a half of which he spent on the front, in the mud of the trenches, with the battalion "Da Vinci's Wolves". He participated in battles in Kupyansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Pokrovsk and returned to the United States in early January, shortly before the inauguration of the new American administration.
On February 28, he saw his cousin J.D. Vance arguing with Zelensky in the Oval Office and was angered by the scene that unfolded.
"J.D. is a good guy, he's intelligent. When he criticized the aid to Ukraine, I thought he was doing it to please a certain electorate, that it was a political game. But what they (Vance and Trump) did to Zelensky was an absolute unscrupulous ambush," says Nate Vance.
Nate and DJ Vance have the same grandparents. Beverly, J.D. Vance's mother, is the sister of James, Nate Vance's father. They spent vacations together at one time.
But being in his family doesn't mean I'm going to accept watching him let my friends get killed, says Nate, referring to his cousin. By comrades, he means the Ukrainian military with whom he fought, side by side.
Nate Vance says that the United States has also benefited from its support for Ukraine. He says of his cousin that he is disappointed in him and the way he has behaved with Zelensky. He adds that he could have told J.D. Vance the truth about Ukraine, but J.D. never reached out to him to learn more about it.
Nate adds that he has tried to get in touch with J.D. several times. "Getting in touch with a U.S. senator from Ukraine is not easy, but I left messages for him in his office. He never called me back," says Nate.
He shares that after Trump and Vance won the U.S. elections, he decided to return home from Ukraine because it was difficult to stay there. He couldn't afford to risk being captured there, Nate says, adding that he is now looking for a publisher to publish his memoirs from the battlefield in Ukraine. Since returning to the United States, Nate has been touring the roads of the American West in his camper.
Nate describes himself as a Republican. But he fails to understand the new course the United States is taking under Trump. "Trump and my cousin seem to believe they can get close to Putin. They are wrong. The Russians have not forgotten our support for Ukraine. We are Vladimir Putin's useful idiots," says Nate.