KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he had postponed his visit to Saudi Arabia planned for Wednesday and that talks on how to end the war with Russia could not be held behind Ukraine’s back.
Ukraine was not represented at the talks between the United States and Russia in Riyadh on Tuesday.
Zelenskiy said that Kyiv was not invited to the meeting, but he had been due to travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
“We want no one to decide anything behind our backs…No decision can be made without Ukraine on how to end the war in Ukraine,” Zelenskiy told reporters during a visit to Turkey where he held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Zelenskiy said that he postponed his trip to Riyadh until March 10 as he did not want “any coincidences”.
As the war with Russia approaches its 3-year mark next week, Zelenskiy said that neither Kyiv nor Moscow could win on the battlefield.
Fierce fighting rages on along more than 1,000 km (600 miles) of front line, with Russian troops slowly but steadily advancing in the eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine seized control of a small part of Russia’s Kursk region in a surprise attack launched across the border in August 2024.
Zelenskiy said that to ensure a just peace, the United States, Ukraine, and Europe should participate in the talks on security guarantees for Kyiv. Zelenskiy also discussed them at talks with Erdogan.
Speaking at the joint news conference, Erdogan said that Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty were indisputable in the eyes of Ankara. Turkey would be an appropriate venue for any possible peace talks involving Russia, he said.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever, Yuliia Dysa and Olena Harmash; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
