Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: Red Cross probes fate of 50,000 missing

The Red Cross said on Thursday it was trying to find out what happened to nearly 50,000 people who have disappeared in the past three years of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: Red Cross probes fate of 50,000 missing
Agence France-Presse . Geneva 13 February, 2025, 23:19

The Red Cross said on Thursday it was trying to find out what happened to nearly 50,000 people who have disappeared in the past three years of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also said it had been notified of around 16,000 prisoners of war and civilians who had been detained by both sides.

Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ICRC created a special bureau of its Central Tracing Agency, dedicated to searching for those missing on both sides in the conflict.

‘Since February 2024, the number of open cases of missing persons has more than doubled, reaching almost 50,000 today,’ the CTA bureau chief Dusan Vujasanin told reporters in Geneva, adding that the vast majority of the missing were military personnel.

A year ago, the bureau said it was seeking to determine the fate of some 23,000 people who had gone missing in the war, and that it was striving to determine whether they were captured, killed or had lost contact after fleeing their homes.

The aim of the bureau’s work, Vujasanin said Thursday, was ‘to prevent disappearances, search for those who go missing and inform their families as soon as possible’.

To date, the bureau has been informed by both sides in the conflict that they had detained around 16,000 prisoners of war and civilians since the start of the full-scale conflict.

‘This is not equal to the number of PoWs currently detained,’ Vujasanin said, pointing out that several thousand prisoners had been released since the start of the war.

The CTA bureau plays the role of a neutral intermediary between the parties for information about missing persons, but it also works to search for the missing.

Vujasanin highlighted that much of the Red Cross network was working together to help find those who had gone missing.

‘Today, more than 80 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and ICRC delegations around the world are working together to support families looking for their missing loved ones in relation to the Russia–Ukraine armed conflict and provide them with answers as soon as possible,’ Vujasanin said.​

 

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Kyiv, EU alarmed by prospect of ‘dirty deal’ after Trump-Putin call

Kyiv and its European allies demanded on Thursday that they be included in any peace negotiations, after US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and said Ukraine could neither have all of its land back nor join NATO. Russia’s financial markets soared and t

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Kyiv, EU alarmed by prospect of ‘dirty deal’ after Trump-Putin call
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 13, 2025 21:48
Updated :
Feb 13, 2025 21:48

A view shows residential buildings destroyed by Russian military strikes in the frontline town of Orikhiv, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine February 12, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stringer

Kyiv and its European allies demanded on Thursday that they be included in any peace negotiations, after US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and said Ukraine could neither have all of its land back nor join NATO.

Russia’s financial markets soared and the price of Ukraine’s debt rose at the prospect of the first peace talks since the early months of Europe’s deadliest war since World War Two, soon to enter its fourth year.

But Trump’s unilateral overture to Putin, accompanied by apparent concessions on Ukraine’s principal demands, raised alarm for both Kyiv and the European allies in NATO who said they feared the White House might make a deal without them.

“We, as a sovereign country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

He said Putin aimed to make his negotiations bilateral with the United States, and it was important not to allow that.

European officials took an exceptionally firm line in public towards Trump’s peace overture, saying any agreement would be impossible to implement unless they and the Ukrainians were included in negotiating it.

“Any quick fix is a dirty deal,” European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. She also strongly denounced the apparent concessions offered in advance.

“Why are we giving them (Russia) everything that they want even before the negotiations have been started?” said Kallas. “It’s appeasement. It has never worked.”

A European diplomatic source said ministers had agreed to engage in a “frank and demanding dialogue” with US officials - some of the strongest language in the diplomatic lexicon - at the annual Munich Security Conference beginning on Friday.

Trump, who made the first publicly acknowledged White House call with Putin since the February 2022 full-scale invasion, and then followed it up with a call to Zelenskiy, said he believed both men wanted peace.

But the Trump administration also said openly for the first time that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to expect to return to its 2014 borders or join the NATO alliance as part of any agreement, and that no US troops would join any security force in Ukraine that might be set up to guarantee a ceasefire.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday the world was fortunate to have Trump, the “best negotiator on the planet, bringing two sides together to find a negotiated peace”.

‘POLITICAL WILL’

The Kremlin, for its part, said it was “impressed” by Trump’s position, which it contrasted with that of his predecessor Joe Biden.

“There is a political will, which was emphasised during yesterday’s conversation, to conduct a dialogue in search of a settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and its proxies captured territory in the east in 2014, before its full-scale invasion in 2022 when it captured more land in the east and south.

Ukraine pushed Russian troops back from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory in 2022, but its outmanned and outgunned forces have slowly ceded more land since a failed Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2023.

Relentless fighting has killed or injured hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides - there is no reliable death toll - and pulverised Ukrainian cities.

Through years of fighting there has been no narrowing of positions on either side. Moscow demands Kyiv cede more land and be rendered permanently neutral in any peace deal; Kyiv says Russian troops must withdraw and it must win security guarantees equivalent to NATO membership to prevent future attacks.

Ukrainian officials have acknowledged in the past that full NATO membership may be out of reach in the short term and that a hypothetical peace deal could leave some occupied land in Russian hands.

But Kyiv and its European allies made clear they were alarmed by Trump having opened negotiations with apparent concessions to Moscow, without first agreeing a common position.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv remained committed to applying to join NATO, which he said was the simplest and least expensive way the West could provide the security guarantees needed to ensure peace.

“All our allies have said the path of Ukraine towards NATO is irreversible. This prospect is in our constitution. It is in our strategic interest.”

‘SURRENDER’

The mood in Ukraine’s capital on Thursday was downbeat.

Kyiv resident Myroslava Lesko, 23, standing near a sea of flags downtown honouring fallen troops, said: “It truly looks as if they want to surrender Ukraine, because I don’t see any benefits for our country from these negotiations or Trump’s rhetoric.”

However, Ukrainians have been worn out by three years of war, and many say they are prepared to sacrifice some aims to achieve peace.

Many were frustrated by US policy under former President Biden, who had vowed to help Ukraine win all its land back and provided tens of billions of dollars worth of military hardware, but with restrictions and delays that Ukrainian commanders say allowed Russian forces to regroup.

Trump, at least, is being more forthright about the limits of US support, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics.

“The difference between Biden and Trump is that Trump says out loud what Biden was thinking and doing about Ukraine,” he said.​

 

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Zelensky says Russian drone damages Chornobyl plant's radiation shield

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that a Russian drone had caused significant damage to the radiation containment shelter at the disused Chornobyl nuclear power plant overnight. Zelensky and the UN's atomic energy watchdog both said that radiation levels remained normal after t

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Zelensky says Russian drone damages Chornobyl plant's radiation shield
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 14, 2025 23:57
Updated :
Feb 14, 2025 23:57

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that a Russian drone had caused significant damage to the radiation containment shelter at the disused Chornobyl nuclear power plant overnight.

Zelensky and the UN's atomic energy watchdog both said that radiation levels remained normal after the incident, which came as top US, Ukrainian and European officials gathered at the Munich Security Conference to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, accused Zelensky of orchestrating a drone attack to coincide with the Munich event as part of a lobbying effort to secure more weapons and money from the West.

Chornobyl was the site of the world's worst civil nuclear catastrophe when one of its four reactors exploded in 1986. That reactor is now enclosed by a shelter to contain the lingering radiation.

Chornobyl's last working reactor shut in 2000. Russia occupied the plant and the surrounding area for more than a month during its push to take the Ukrainian capital Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion.

The drone struck the radiation shelter, causing a fire that was then extinguished, Zelensky wrote on the Telegram app.

"According to initial assessments, the damage to the shelter is significant," he said.

Ukraine's emergency services said there were several areas of damage.

Ukraine's SBU security service showed pictures of what it said was the drone, which it said had been carrying a high-explosive warhead.

It said the drone was a Geran-2, the Russian name for the Iranian-designed Shahed-136, and had been intended to hit the reactor enclosure.

IMAGES SHOW FIRE AT TOP OF CHORNOBYL RADIATION ENCLOSURE

Marcel Plichta, Fellow at the Centre for Global Law and Governance at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, said the visuals released by Ukraine almost certainly showed a Shahed-136.

"The warhead of these drones is usually around 30 kg (66 lb), which is notable because it means Russia can grab headlines by launching the attack, but probably wouldn't cause large amounts of damage like you would see from a traditional missile," he said.

"Russia frequently uses attacks like this to regain control of the narrative."

Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, posted photographs that appeared to show a small fire near the top of the shelter, known as the New Safe Confinement.

The hulking, arched steel and concrete structure was completed in 2019 to cover an earlier Soviet-built version, which had deteriorated.

It is 108 metres high (354 feet) and 162 metres long, spans 257 metres and has a lifetime of at least 100 years, according to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

It cost 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) and was financed by 45 donor countries and institutions.

Zelensky told reporters in Munich that the drone had flown in below radar range, at a height of 85 metres.

He was in Munich to meet US Vice-President JD Vance at a delicate moment for Ukraine, with the new US president, Donald Trump, pushing for rapid negotiations and an end to the war.​

 

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Vance says US wields economic, military leverage on Russia in Ukraine talks

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington would be able to wield economic and military leverage in talks with Russia to ensure a good peace deal over Ukraine, but his spokesman later denied he was making any threats against Moscow. Vance also urged Europe to spend more on defence in remarks befor

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Vance says US wields economic, military leverage on Russia in Ukraine talks
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 14, 2025 21:57
Updated :
Feb 14, 2025 21:57

US Vice President JD Vance shakes hands as he participates in a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Commerzbank in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Leah Millis

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington would be able to wield economic and military leverage in talks with Russia to ensure a good peace deal over Ukraine, but his spokesman later denied he was making any threats against Moscow.

Vance also urged Europe to spend more on defence in remarks before arriving for the Munich Security Conference, a major annual gathering of political leaders, military officers and diplomats.

In his keynote address to the conference, Vance lambasted the European Union for its regulation of hate speech and misinformation, which he said amounted to censorship.

He only briefly referred to Ukraine, saying he hoped a “reasonable settlement” could be reached.

However, Ukraine, and prospects for peace talks, preoccupied many at the high-profile global gathering after Donald Trump startled U.S. allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and announcing the start of talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Vance, who was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later on Friday, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal before the conference that Trump could use several tools - economic and military - for leverage with Putin.

Vance’s spokesman William Martin said later on X that Vance “didn’t make any threats. He simply stated the fact that no one is going to take options away from President Trump as these negotiations begin.”

Martin published what he said was a transcript from the interview, according to which Vance was asked what implicit threat and pressure Washington was considering towards Putin. He said Vance responded that “the range of options is extremely broad, and there are economic tools of leverage. There, of course, military tools of leverage (too).”

Vance mentioned none of this in his speech to the conference, instead focusing on criticising the 27-nation EU’s policy towards hate speech.

“The threat I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” he said, adding that it was what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech - as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.

A Reuters reporter in one of the side rooms where more delegates could listen to Vance said people watched in stunned silence, with no applause.

EUROPEAN FEAR OF EXCLUSION FROM UKRAINE DEAL

The Kremlin had said earlier on Friday that it hoped the US would clarify Vance’s remarks to the Wall Street Journal. “We have not heard such formulations before,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed Vance’s comments. “Just like with the tariffs, it will depend on how President Putin comes to the table,” he told Fox Business Network.

“If we believe that taking the sanctions regime up to a maximum threshold level will help us achieve negotiating leverage - and as you know, no one understands negotiating leverage better than President Trump, so - that will be his decision, and Treasury will implement it.”

Trump’s phone call with Putin stoked fears among European governments that they might be frozen out of a settlement to end the Ukraine war that could wind up being too favourable to Russia and undermine European security as a whole.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated those concerns on Friday.

“A sham peace - over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans - would gain nothing,” she said. “A sham peace would not bring lasting security, neither for the people in Ukraine nor for us in Europe or the United States.”

Germany’s defence minister said it was a mistake for Trump to take the bargaining chips off the table, namely Ukraine’s wish for NATO membership and its objective to recover all territories taken by Russian forces since 2014.

Russia now holds about 20 per cent of Ukraine nearly three years after launching a full-scale invasion, saying Kyiv’s pursuit of NATO membership posed an existential threat. Ukraine and the West call Russia’s action an imperialist land grab.

PRESSURE ON EUROPE

Vance also repeated Trump’s demand that Europe do more to safeguard its own defence so Washington can focus on other regions, particularly the Indo-Pacific.

“In the future, we think Europe is going to have to take a bigger role in its own security,” he said in a bilateral meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Vance was “absolutely right” about the need for Europe “stepping up” and doing more for its own defence. “We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more,” Rutte said.

At the conference, several European leaders echoed his comments, saying Europe would step up its defence spending but also needed to discuss with Washington on a gradual phasing-out of its support.

As a senator, Vance expressed blunt scepticism about US support for Ukraine.

Speaking on a podcast in 2022, he said: “I don’t really care what happens in Ukraine one way or the other.”​

 

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Zelensky calls for European army amid US support doubts

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called Saturday for the creation of a European army, as he insisted Kyiv and its backers on the continent must be listened to in peace talks with Russia.

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Zelensky calls for European army amid US support doubts
Agence France-Presse . Munich, Germany 15 February, 2025, 22:13

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. | File photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called Saturday for the creation of a European army, as he insisted Kyiv and its backers on the continent must be listened to in peace talks with Russia.

Speaking at a gathering of top policymakers in Munich, the Ukrainian leader said that with the return of president Donald Trump to the White House Europe could no longer count on Washington to always have its back.

Trump stunned allies and upended the status quo of US support for Ukraine this week when he announced he would likely soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start truce talks.

Zelensky’s rallying cry came a day after he met US vice-president JD Vance as Kyiv scrambles to ensure it is not sidelined in Washington’s push to wrap up the three-year war.

‘Let’s be honest—now we can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,’ Zelensky said.

‘I really believe that time has come. The Armed Forces of Europe must be created.’

The push for a joint continental force has been mooted for years without gaining traction and Zelensky’s intervention seems unlikely to shift the balance.

In the short-term, the priority for Kyiv remains ensuring its voice is heard at any peace talks involving Russia and that it doesn’t get a bad deal.

‘Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,’ Zelensky said in a speech.

‘No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. No decisions about Europe without Europe.’

Zelensky cautioned Putin would seek to use Trump as a ‘prop in his own performance’, possibly by trying to get him to Moscow for Russia’s WWII victory parade in May.

Zelensky is pushing for ‘security guarantees’ from both the United States and Europe to ensure that any peace deal does not allow Moscow just to restart the war later.

‘Putin cannot offer real security guarantees, not just because he is a liar but because Russia in its current state needs war to hold power together,’ he said.

The Ukrainian leader said forceful sanctions on Russia and building up Ukraine’s military could help secure peace, and said he was ‘open’ to eventually having European peacekeepers.

European leaders backed up Zelensky’s call to action and for their continent to play a key role.

‘There will only be peace if Ukraine’s sovereignty is secured,’ German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Munich Security Conference.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk pressed Europe to establish its own stances on Ukraine and security as the United States sows doubts about its commitment to Europe.

‘Europe urgently needs its own plan of action concerning Ukraine and our security, or else other global players will decide about our future,’ Tusk said.

‘This plan must be prepared now. There’s no time to lose.’

NATO boss Mark Rutte said that leaders in Europe were ‘now getting into the concrete planning phase’ of possible security guarantees.

US officials have said that Ukraine will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion.

Vance said after his sit-down with Zelensky that Washington was looking for a ‘durable, lasting peace’ that would not lead to further bloodshed in coming years. But US officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory.

That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin.

In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare earths mineral deposits in return for future US security support.

Zelensky said the negotiations were ongoing after his meeting with Vance.

While Zelensky engages in his diplomatic push, on the ground in Ukraine the situation for his forces continued to deteriorate.

Russia’s army on Saturday claimed to have captured a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region close to a road linking key towns as Moscow slowly eats up territory.

Despite suffering heavy battlefield losses, the Russian army has been creeping forwards in eastern Ukraine for more than a year as it looks to cut off access to Pokrovsk.

The advances came after a Russian drone struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with radiation levels remaining normal.

‘A country that launches such attacks does not want peace. Not. They don’t want it,’ Zelensky said. ‘It is not preparing for dialogue.’​

 

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1,00,000 without heat in Ukrainian city after Russian strike: Zelensky

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday 1,00,000 people were without heating in the southern city of Mykolaiv in cold temperatures after a Russian drone strike on ‘critical infrastructure’.

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1,00,000 without heat in Ukrainian city after Russian strike: Zelensky
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 17 February, 2025, 01:18

Volodymyr Zelensky | File photo

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday 1,00,000 people were without heating in the southern city of Mykolaiv in cold temperatures after a Russian drone strike on ‘critical infrastructure’.

Ukrainian officials had earlier said that Russian drones had hit a local thermal power plant.

Zelensky said the attack was proof Russia did not want peace, in a statement that came after he warned Western leaders not to trust Moscow and as Europe braces for a summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

‘Today, more than a 1,00,000 people in Mykolaiv were left without heating as a result of a Russian Shahed attack on the city’s critical infrastructure,’ Zelensky said on social media.

‘This has nothing to do with the fighting and the situation at the frontline,’ he said, adding: ‘This is not what those who really want to restore peace and prepare for negotiations do.’

Zelensky said repair teams are working to restore heating in Mykolaiv, which lies close to the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian leader called for a ‘strong’ response from Western allies and said: ‘We need to force Russia to peace.’

Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmygal earlier said that Russian drones hit the power plant in Mykolaiv at night.

‘This was done deliberately to leave people without heat in sub-zero temperatures and create a humanitarian catastrophe,’ he said.

Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout its three-year invasion.​

 

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Too early to discuss troop deployment to Ukraine, says Spain

Spain poured cold water on Monday on a British proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and said negotiations to end the three-year war should not end up rewarding Russian aggression. “It is too early at this time to speak about deploying troops to Ukraine as there is no peace at the moment,

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Too early to discuss troop deployment to Ukraine, says Spain
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 17, 2025 21:27
Updated :
Feb 17, 2025 21:27

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares looks on as he attends the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Yves Herman/Files

Spain poured cold water on Monday on a British proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and said negotiations to end the three-year war should not end up rewarding Russian aggression.

“It is too early at this time to speak about deploying troops to Ukraine as there is no peace at the moment,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters ahead of an emergency summit of European leaders on the Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump stunned European allies and Ukraine last week when he announced he had held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and would start a peace process.

“A war of aggression cannot be rewarded, we cannot encourage others to launch wars of aggression,” Albares also said in an interview with radio station Onda Cero. “Today I’m convinced Putin will keep attacking and bombing Ukraine. So I do not see peace on the horizon at the moment.”​

 

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UKRAINE WAR: Russia, US to name negotiators

Washington said Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, as the superpowers met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU.

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UKRAINE WAR: Russia, US to name negotiators
Agence France-Presse . Riyadh 19 February, 2025, 00:35

Washington said Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, as the superpowers met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU.

However, no specifics on a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin emerged from the gathering in Riyadh, the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since Ukraine’s 2022 invasion.

Some European leaders, alarmed by Trump’s overhaul of US policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal between superpowers.

On Tuesday, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to ‘appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible’, the State Department said.

Rubio said Washington was aiming for a ‘fair’ and ‘sustainable’ solution to the Ukraine war, after a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Riyadh.

Washington added the sides had also agreed to ‘establish a consultation mechanism’ to address ‘irritants’ to Russia and America’s relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

Russia offered less detail on the outcome of the talks, saying: ‘We discussed and outlined our principled positions, and agreed that separate teams of negotiators will be in touch on this topic in due course.’

‘It is still difficult to talk about a specific date for a meeting between the two leaders,’ said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide.

Russia sketched out some of its perspectives on future talks to ending the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that settling the war required a reorganisation of Europe’s defence agreements.

Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.

‘A lasting and long-term viable resolution is impossible without a comprehensive consideration of security issues on the continent,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, responding to a question by AFP.

Before invading Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow had demanded NATO pull out of central and eastern Europe.

European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris a day earlier, but struggled to put on a united front.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in Turkey on Tuesday, said on the eve of the talks that he was not invited and would not ‘recognise any things or any agreements about us without us’.

Isolated by the West for three years, Russia is hoping for a ‘restoration’ of ties with the United States and a comeback to the international arena.

At the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, negotiations began without visible handshakes.

Both Russia and the United States have cast Tuesday’s meeting as the beginning of a potentially lengthy process and downplayed the prospects of a breakthrough.

Russia’s Ushakov told state media the talks would discuss ‘how to start negotiations on Ukraine’.

Trump has said he wants to end the war in Ukraine, but has thus far presented no concrete plan.

The United States has urged both sides that concessions will have to be made if any peace talks materialise.

Russia on the eve of the summit said there cannot be even a ‘thought’ on it giving up territory seized from Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that Ukraine had the ‘right’ to join the European Union, but not the NATO military alliance.

It also said Putin was ‘ready’ to negotiate with Zelensky ‘if necessary’, though repeated its questioning of his ‘legitimacy’ — a reference to his five-year term expiring last year, despite Ukrainian law not requiring elections during wartime.

The Ukrainian leader was in Turkey on Tuesday for discussions on the conflict with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He is due in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, though he said he does not plan to meet with US or Russian officials.

The EU, reeling from a series of speeches by Trump’s officials indicating Washington does not see Moscow as a threat, said it still wants to ‘partner’ with the United States on any truce talks.

Trump’s administration has given no clear answer on whether the EU would take part and Moscow has said it sees no point in Europe having a seat at the table.

‘Financially and militarily, Europe has brought more to the table than anyone else,’ the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on social media.

‘We want to partner with the US to deliver a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.’

Key Russian ally China also welcomed ‘efforts towards peace’ on Tuesday.

‘At the same time, we hope that all parties and stakeholders can participate,’ foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Russia has presented cautious optimism on the talks.​