Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin conduct negotiations without Ukrainian participation – specified sensational information was revealed during the Munich safety Conference. Republican congressman Michael McCaul announced that a gathering of U.S. and Russian negotiating teams in Saudi Arabia would be held in the coming days. Ukrainian officials do not hide surprise – they say that no 1 informed them of these talks.
President Volodymyr Zelenski openly admitted that he did not know what was going on. "I have only heard that a gathering is to be held in Saudi Arabia, but I do not know the details," he said at the margins of the Munich conference. In turn, his advisor Mikhail Podolak commented on the substance even more harshly: – Russia is not ready for any negotiations, and there is nothing worth discussing on the table.
Ukrainians in shock, Americans silent
McCaul's declaration caused not only Kiev but besides Ukraine's allies into dismay. According to European politicians, talks organised by Trump's people may mean that the US and Russia are seeking an agreement above the heads of Ukraine and its Western partners.
Additional concerns have sparked news that Trump is considering a individual gathering with Putin, and Washington is sending key safety representatives to Saudi Arabia, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Meanwhile, Vice president J.D. Vance did not mention these plans in his Munich speech, and Trump's peculiar envoy Keith Kellogg, erstwhile asked about the position of the US administration, avoided unambiguous answers.
– No 1 knows where this is going," said Ukrainian politician Alexi Goncharenko.
The West fears “the arrangement over the heads of Ukraine”
Concern is increasing in Europe. Mike Quigley, an American congressman and co-chair of the Ukrainian legislature Club, commented harshly: "In Trump's diplomacy, a larger country-aggressor receives more respect than a country brutally attacked. This is simply a bad sign for Ukraine's future.
Republican Lindsey Graham, on the another hand, reduces emotions. “I don’t care where the talks will take place, it’s how the conflict will end,” the senator stressed.
Europe puts the ultimatum: "We must be part of the negotiations"
Some European leaders are calling for peace, but at the same time stresses that it is not possible for the Americans and Russians to find the destiny of Ukraine without its participation. “If the US is making specified talks, we gotta prove to them that Europe is besides involved,” said Finnish president Alexander Stubb.
Meanwhile, information chaos is deepening. Trump's envoys visited Europe last week, but their messages were contradictory. NATO officially claims that "all options are on the table", but at the same time Trump and his advisors clearly declare that Ukraine has no chance of recovering all Russia's occupied territories.