WASHINGTON — President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff revealed plans Thursday for a summit meeting next week with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia — saying the parties would discuss a possible cease-fire with Russia.
“We’re now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians… It will be [in] Saudi Arabia. And I think the idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial cease-fire as well,” Witkoff told reporters on the White House driveway.
The meeting will attempt to restore US-Ukrainian dialogue after the Trump administration moved to halt the flow of weapons and intelligence to Kyiv in response to an explosive Oval Office meeting Friday featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky, who is not expected to attend the Saudi Arabia meeting, said Friday that he opposes a temporary cease-fire, citing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s prior deal-breaking.
“We can’t just speak about cease-fire and speak and speak. It will not work,” Zelensky said at that meeting, fueling Trump’s rage.
Trump told him: “Look, if you could get a cease-fire right now, I tell you you’d take it, so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.”
The clash erupted over Zelensky’s demand for further US security guarantees, which Trump argued he had already effectively granted via a framework pact to give America a stake in the country’s rare earth elements.
Zelensky has expressed regret for the tumultuous meeting and a willingness to sign the mining agreement — though Trump has accused him of being disrespectful and said Monday his counterpart “won’t be around very long” if he won’t make a peace deal.
Trump’s envoy to Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Thursday said he was aware of no US talks with Ukrainian opposition figures about potentially toppling Zelensky, saying he “would find it really hard to believe right now” — denying a Politico report about recent alleged contacts.
Kellogg also said Thursday that Ukrainians forced the US’s hand in cutting off arms and “brought it on themselves.”
Trump has scoffed at the notion of Ukraine recouping territory that’s currently occupied by Russia and vented that he views Zelensky as ungrateful for hundreds of billions in American war aid over the past three years.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House last week and discussed a plan to deploy peacekeeping forces to Ukraine following a cessation of fighting, with the NATO members’ troops intended to give further implicit protections.
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