OAN Staff Blake Wolf
8:47 AM – Sunday, February 16, 2025
White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff stated on Sunday that he will be traveling to Saudi Arabia later in the day, along with Security Advisor Mike Waltz, to speak with Russian officials on ending the war in Ukraine.
“I am going tonight,” Witkoff stated. “I’ll be traveling there with the national security advisor, and we’ll be having meetings at the direction of the president, and hopefully we’ll make some really good progress.”
The peace talks in Saudi Arabia with Russian officials marks the first in-person discussions between high level officials from both countries in years. The meeting proceeds an additional discussion between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian officials have acknowledged the meeting between the U.S. and Russia, stating that they have not been invited.
The meeting follows just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that he doesn’t believe Ukraine would survive without U.S. military support.
“It will be very, very, very difficult,” Zelensky stated. “And, of course, in all the difficult situations, you have a chance. But we will have a low chance – low chance to survive without support of the United States.”
Ukrainian officials added that they will not be bound by any terms or agreements that come out of the peace talks between the United States and Russia as they were not involved in any negotiations.
“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs,” Zelensky stated on Saturday. “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, no decisions about Europe without Europe.”
Meanwhile, Witkoff pushed back against the narrative that Ukrainian officials were being iced out of negotiations, adding that U.S. officials just spoke with Ukrainian leaders at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend.
“I don’t think this is about excluding anybody,” Witkoff stated in a Sunday Fox News interview. “In fact, it’s about including everybody.”
Unnamed U.S. officials revealed that the reason Ukraine was not invited to Saudi Arabia was for the United States to host bilateral talks with Russia, bilateral talks with Ukraine, and then joint talks, according to NBC News.
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