KYIV - Ukraine is “fully committed” to constructive dialogue with US representatives in Saudi Arabia next week and hopes to agree on the necessary steps, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
“Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” Zelensky said on the social media network X.
“On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” he added.
Zelensky said he would visit Saudi Arabia next week and after his meeting with the Crown Prince on Monday, Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives would stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the US team.
The US State Department on Saturday quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio as telling Ukraine’s foreign minister that President Donald Trump is determined to end the war “as soon as possible”.
To that end, Trump on Friday floated the idea of even more punishing sanctions on Russia to compel President Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table.
The threat came after Russian forces hit Ukrainian energy and gas infrastructure overnight. The Russian attack was the first since the US paused military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
At the same time, however, the US Treasury Department has been asked to explore options for easing energy sanctions ahead of expected talks between Trump and Putin, White House sources said.
That would allow Washington to roll back the sanctions quickly in the event of a peace deal, according to the sources, who made clear the effort should not be read as an indication that the US would lift the sanctions without Russian concessions.
Trump says he plans to meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks to negotiate a deal to end the three-year-old war, and analysts say relaxing the sanctions represents a likely centrepiece of any agreement.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said at least 11 people were killed and 30 wounded, including five children, in Russian overnight missile and drone attacks on the eastern city of Dobropillia.
The ministry said Russian forces attacked the city with ballistic missiles, multiple rockets and drones, damaging multi-storey buildings and cars.
The Russian Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said its troops retook three villages in Russia’s western Kursk region from Ukrainian forces.
The Russian army has been fighting to eject Ukrainian troops from Kursk since last August, when Kyiv’s forces staged a lightning incursion over the border and seized a swath of Russian territory.
Open-source maps showed this week that Ukraine’s positions have deteriorated sharply in Kursk, where its troops are nearly surrounded by Russian forces.
