Zelensky Cancels Saudi Arabia Trip After Exclusion From U.S.-Russia Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia to express his disapproval of the United States and Russia beginning bilateral negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

“We were not invited to this Russian-American meeting in Saudi Arabia. It was a surprise for us. I don’t want any coincidences, so I’m not going to Saudi Arabia,” Zelensky said after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

By “coincidences,” Zelensky evidently meant that he did not want his planned visit to Saudi Arabia to be mistaken as an endorsement of the meetings held between U.S. and Russian diplomats in Riyadh this week.

“The Russian-American meeting in Saudi Arabia came as a surprise to us, just as it did to many others. Yes, we saw the media coverage, but I don’t know who will stay, who will leave, or where anyone is going. To be honest, I don’t really care. What matters to me is that our partners take time to think about us,” he said.

“Any country has a bilateral track with other countries. Please, you can discuss anything, but you can’t make a decision on how to end the war in Ukraine without Ukraine,” he insisted. (Read more from “Zelensky Cancels Saudi Arabia Trip After Exclusion From U.S.-Russia Talks” HERE)