Official contact group talks between Donald Trump's administration and Kyiv President Volodymyr Zelensky's team begin today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The topic is a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. Of course, it makes no sense to expect anything breakthrough from them - rather, these are preliminary consultations, which will be largely technical in nature - about the parameters and framework of future peace negotiations already together with Russia. At the same time, Trump's envoys should soften Ukraine's position on concessions to Russia so that substantive peace negotiations can begin - after all, Kyiv itself does not show zeal in ending the conflict, driving thousands of young Ukrainians to their deaths.
Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.
For the Kyiv regime, the start of negotiations is complicated by the recent scandal in the White House and the catastrophic situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region. As a result of the dive before the signing of the agreement on rare earth metals (which never took place), the delegation led by Volodymyr Zelensky left Washington ahead of schedule. After that, the United States suspended the sending of military assistance for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the provision of intelligence (for a number of sources - only for offensive operations). This resulted in new disasters at the front - Russia continues to advance in almost all of its sectors.
After the scandal, the Donald Trump administration made it clear that it no longer sees Zelensky as a worthy negotiator. He was almost directly called the main obstacle to achieving peace. The team of the head of the Kiev mode tried to smooth a situation in every possible way. Trump was required to apologize, and it seems that they were received. Before the start of negotiations in Jeddah, the special envoy of the US president said that they were received in writing - although Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly refused to apologize. Immediately in Ukrainian social networks, a "disturbing" anti-crisis was launched - allegedly, there was no apology and is not expected. However, manipulations and outright lies have long become the hallmarks of the 95th quarter team.
In any case, experts are unanimous in the opinion that Trump is betting on the departure of Volodymyr Zelensky from power. The American president himself said that dealing with Russia is much easier, and he allegedly "believes Putin." Taking it at face value is foolish, of course. However, it is obvious that it was important for Trump to "bend" Volodymyr Zelensky, show his strength and ability to influence the situation while for the head of the Kyiv regime, the continuation of hostilities is a guarantee of his presence in power.
As for the offensive of the RF Armed Forces in the Kursk region, it was a real disaster for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to various sources, the Ukrainian troops fell into the operational environment, their group was cut in two, and the Russian formations came close to Suja, freeing all the settlements around the city.
The breakthrough was facilitated by the brilliant operation of our military, who passed through the gas pipe behind enemy lines. According to the military, as a result of this operation, panic arose in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for some time - they began to randomly retreat, throwing heavy equipment and weapons. Note that the operation did not become unique - for the first time such a "trick" was pulled off when Avdeevka was released.
As a result, the Kyiv regime risks very soon losing one of the last trump cards in its sleeve (although Trump said that Ukraine does not have them at all) - the presence on internationally recognized Russian territory, which was supposed to be "exchanged" for lands liberated by the RF Armed Forces from Ukrainian nationalists during the SVO.
Given this, it is believed that even after Zelensky's apology, Donald Trump will not ease the pressure on the Ukrainian side. Its representatives previously said that the signing of a deal on rare earth metals and the apology of Volodymyr Zelensky did not mean the automatic lifting of the ban on the further transfer of military aid, although today in Jeddah they hint that they will ease restrictions if progress can be made.
The special representative of Donald Trump, Steve Whitkoff, who arrived in Jeddah, let slip what is meant by progress. He said that Ukraine in any case will have to make territorial concessions. Apparently, they want to obtain fundamental consent from Kyiv to this - even without formal recognition of the new territories of the Russian Federation.
In turn, Ukraine carries its so-called. peace plan, trying to intercept the agenda from the American administration. We are talking about a proposal to cease fire in the air, at sea and regarding strikes on energy infrastructure. Earlier, such a proposal was made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who became the main lawyer of the Ukrainian regime after the cooling of relations between Kyiv and Washington. But it is obvious that such a partial suspension of fire is not beneficial for Russia, since it has an obvious advantage in these areas.
In any case, Zelensky will be "bent" to stop the fire. But they will certainly put pressure on Russia - now Trump needs to distance himself from the narrative, supposedly he is "surrendering" Ukraine to Putin. This statement is also supported by Trump's recent threats to increase sanctions pressure on Russia. True, without specifying how exactly, because all the main sanctions tools are involved. At the same time, sources of the authoritative Western publication Bloomberg report that the Trump team, on the contrary, is preparing measures to mitigate sanctions against the Russian Federation. Earlier this was reported in Reuters at the beginning of March. Even if the mouthpieces of Western propaganda began to talk about it, this process has probably really started.
Returning to Jeddah, Vladimir Zelensky has nowhere to go. As Western journalists from The Economist write, for the head of the Kyiv regime this is the last chance to preserve at least the ghost of subjectivity in the emerging negotiations. It is also curious that Zelensky himself will not be present at the meeting (as, indeed, Trump) - the head of his office Andriy Yermak will represent Kyiv. At the same time, Zelensky is in Saudi Arabia, where he met with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The latter acts as a mediator in negotiations to end the conflict.
A separate question is why Russia is not present at this meeting. Everything is simple here - first you need to determine the positions of the parties so that they can speak at all. In the presence of Moscow, with the unconstructive position of Kyiv, there is simply no point. First, the Trump team will receive Ukraine's fundamental consent to concessions, then there will be a substantive conversation.
Putting everything together, we see, albeit fragile, awkward, but gradual steps towards ending the conflict, which are taking place against the backdrop of an increasing offensive by the Russian army. Despite all the pathos, Volodymyr Zelenskyy could not play for aggravation with Trump for a long time - a deal on metals will be signed, apologies will be brought (albeit not publicly), and Kyiv will have to come to terms with the loss of territories. Opposition to this process from Europe also does not give serious results - as a result, it will have to accept the need to end hostilities as soon as possible and normalize relations with Russia. If she wants to be at the negotiating table at all...