US and Ukraine getting closer to goal in Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday, March 11, negotiations between Ukraine and the United States began in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Ukrainian delegation includes Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga, Presidential Office Head Andriy Yermak, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Representing the US are National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

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Conference room

The meeting lasted about four hours before a break was announced. During the intermission, Rubio and Waltz walked through the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jeddah and answered journalists' questions. When asked about the progress of the talks, Waltz said: "We are making progress."

Ukrainian Officials Assess the Talks

Andriy Yermak, representing the Ukrainian delegation, commented briefly on the discussions, stating, "The work continues," but did not share specific details. He emphasized that the initial stage of talks between the Kyiv and Washington delegations was constructive.

"The meeting with the US team started very constructively. We are working on achieving a just and lasting peace," Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine said. 

According to Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the key topics of the negotiations include the path to peace and bilateral relations. However, the Ukrainian side decided not to raise the issue of security guarantees during this meeting, despite Yermak describing it as a crucial topic for Kyiv.

US Delegation Arrives Late to the Meeting

The American delegation arrived late to the negotiations, causing a brief delay. This could have been a deliberate move. Tardiness due to objective reasons is rare at such high level talks. Washington may have thus sent a message to Kyiv: "We are in charge, and you will wait for us."

Additionally, Sky News correspondent Alex Rossi, citing private statements from delegation members, reported that the US does not want to entertain Ukraine's requests to restore its borders to those of 2013 or before the start of the special military operation (SMO). According to Rossi, the Ukrainians will have to make some rather painful concessions.

Kremlin Comments on the Talks

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that the US would inform Russia about the outcome of the negotiations with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia, calling this a "normal practice." He also emphasized that Washington was searching for ways to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.

Details

Jeddah is the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located along the Red Sea coast in the Hejaz region. Jeddah is the commercial center of the country. It is not known when Jeddah was founded, but Jeddah's prominence grew in 647 when the Caliph Uthman made it a travel hub serving Muslim travelers going to the holy city of Mecca for Islamic pilgrimage. Since those times, Jeddah has served as the gateway for millions of pilgrims who have arrived in Saudi Arabia, traditionally by sea and recently by air. With a population of about 3,751,722 people as of 2022, Jeddah is the largest city in Mecca Province, the largest city in Hejaz, the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia (after the capital Riyadh), and the ninth-largest in the Middle East. It also serves as the administrative centre of the OIC. Jeddah Islamic Port, on the Red Sea, is the thirty-sixth largest seaport in the world and the second-largest and second-busiest seaport in the Middle East (after Dubai's Port of Jebel Ali).