A special envoy of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, has announced that he will travel to Saudi Arabia on the evening of February 16, where high-ranking Russian and US officials are set to meet. Witkoff told Fox News, “I’m leaving tonight. I’m flying with the national security advisor and we’ll be having talks on the President’s instruction. Hopefully, we’ll make some real progress.”
It remains unclear whether Ukraine has been invited to the meeting. Earlier, a advisor to the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Mikhail Podoljak, stated that Kiev would not be represented at the talks. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s economic ministry announced that the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is preparing for a visit to Saudi Arabia.
Trump had previously announced the US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia on February 14, without ruling out Ukraine’s participation. The US State Department has also confirmed that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the meeting, currently in Israel. In a CBS interview, Rubio stated that “real negotiations” have not yet begun, but if they do, they should involve Kiev and Brussels.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry welcomed the meeting of the parties in the kingdom, “reiterating its enduring efforts to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
According to Bloomberg, Russian officials set to participate in the talks include President’s advisor Yuri Ushakov, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin and the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriyev.