Zelenskiy travels to Saudi Arabia before critical discussions with the US.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to visit Saudi Arabia on Monday to engage with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, prior to discussions between Ukrainian and U.S. officials aimed at concluding the conflict with Russia during a particularly unstable time for Kyiv.

The United States, formerly Ukraine’s key ally, has dramatically changed its wartime strategies in its declared aim to quickly conclude the conflict, directly interacting with Moscow while withdrawing military support and intelligence cooperation for Kyiv.

Zelenskiy is anticipated to meet the Saudi crown prince, as his nation has undertaken several mediating roles since Russia’s 2022 invasion, such as facilitating prisoner exchanges and hosting discussions between Russia and the United States last month.

The discussions on Tuesday between U.S. and Ukrainian representatives – marking the first formal meeting since a problematic Oval Office interaction between Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump – are anticipated to concentrate on a bilateral minerals agreement and strategies to conclude the conflict.

Zelenskiy has stated he will not participate in Tuesday’s discussions with U.S. representatives and that the Ukrainian team will consist of his chief of staff, foreign and defense ministers, along with a senior military official from the presidential administration.

Under immense pressure from Trump, who desires a swift conclusion to the war, Zelenskiy has diligently tried to demonstrate unanimity, even though he has not secured the U.S. security assurances that Kyiv considers essential for any peace agreement.

“You can’t say ‘I want peace,’ and, ‘I refuse to compromise on anything’,” one of the officials said of the upcoming talks.

A second U.S. official said: “We want to see if the Ukrainians are interested not just in peace, but in a realistic peace.”

Trump said on Sunday that he expected good results out of the upcoming talks, adding that the United States had “just about  ended a suspension of intelligence sharing with Kyiv.