Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Special Envoy for Russia and Ukraine Keith Kellogg meet in Kyiv, Ukraine, 20 February 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE / SERGEY DOLZHENKO
The US is to facilitate indirect talks between Russia and Ukraine in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh next week, US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said on Thursday, as the Trump administration continued its efforts to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine.
In an interview with former Fox News host Glenn Beck, Kellogg said that the negotiations would use a “shuttle diplomacy” format, with the US representatives acting as a mediator between the two delegations, which will be in separate rooms so as to avoid coming into direct contact with each other.
“You basically say, 'Okay, what are your terms?' And you go to the other side, 'What are your terms?'”, Kellogg said. “And then we'll see where we can get to a comprehensive ceasefire, and that would be the first step to ending this war”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky subsequently confirmed that a delegation representing Kyiv would be present at the talks on Monday, with Sky News reporting that Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Pavlo Palisa would be among those present.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, meanwhile, said that Moscow would send Grigory Karasin, the chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in Russia’s Federation Council, and Sergey Beseda, an adviser to the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), as part of its delegation.
One likely topic of discussion, according to Ushakov, would be a potential revival of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered by the UN and Türkiye in 2022 guaranteeing vitally needed grain exports safe passage through the Black Sea.
Speaking at the European Council in Brussels on Thursday, Zelensky criticised the continuing Russian airstrikes on Ukraine, describing them as a way to derail efforts to implement a partial ceasefire, and called on Vladimir Putin to “stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war”.
“By now, there could have been over a week without killings, without strikes, without fire – if Putin were not the only one keeping this war going”, Zelensky said.
During a subsequent press conference in Oslo with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Zelensky said that US President Donald Trump had not raised the subject of a potential US recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea during their call on Wednesday, despite reports that his administration was considering the move.
Zelensky also insisted that, while the two had discussed potential US investment in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is currently under Russian occupation, Trump had made no reference to a plan for the US to take “ownership” of the facility that had previously been hinted at by the White House.
