JEDDAH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia for a visit with its powerful crown prince ahead of his team’s meeting with America’s top diplomat.
While Zelenskyy won’t be there, his team will try to repair the damage done when his February 28 visit to Washington descended into an Oval Office argument with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. At stake is the military aid and intelligence previously offered by the United States that had helped Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Saudi state television reported Zelenskyy’s arrival in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea where the Ukraine-U.S. summit will take place Tuesday. Zelenskyy was due to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after sunset, following the end of the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was en route to Jeddah as well. However, it didn’t appear that Rubio and Zelenskyy would meet in person there, though the secretary of state also was due to meet Prince Mohammed.
Speaking to reporters aboard his plane, Rubio said he and national security adviser Mike Waltz would take stock of Ukraine’s responses. If Ukraine and the U.S. reach an understanding acceptable to Trump, that could accelerate his administration’s push to
peace talks.