President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, working to repair his strained relationship with the United States and secure a favorable deal to end the war with Russia, met on Monday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Zelensky wrote on X that his discussions with Prince Mohammed, the de facto Saudi leader, who has sought to take a central role on the world’s diplomatic stage, were “good” and that he was “grateful” for the crown prince’s “wise perspective on global affairs and support for Ukraine.” Mr. Zelensky added that it was “especially important to hear words of confidence in Ukraine’s future.”
Their meeting came ahead of talks planned for Tuesday between Ukrainian and U.S. officials in the oil-rich Gulf state.
Mr. Zelensky, who traveled to the seaside Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, wrote that he and the crown prince “had a detailed discussion on the steps and conditions needed to end the war and secure a reliable and lasting peace.”
Mr. Zelensky said he had “specifically emphasized the issue of the release of prisoners and the return of our children, which could become a key step in building trust in diplomatic efforts. A significant part of the discussion was dedicated to the formats of security guarantees.” He did not offer specifics.
Once shunned internationally because of accusations of human rights abuses that he has denied, Prince Mohammed has positioned his country as a middleman in efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Last year, Saudi Arabia played a pivotal role in a complex U.S.-Russia prisoner swap, and President Trump has suggested it could be the site of a possible meeting between him and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Last month, Mr. Zelensky postponed a trip to Saudi Arabia after it hosted an extraordinary meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, in which the two sides sought to reset their relationship and discussed the war in Ukraine, without Mr. Zelensky.
But on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said on social media that he would visit Saudi Arabia, declaring that he was “determined to do everything to end this war with a just and lasting peace.”
“Realistic proposals are on the table,” he wrote. “The key is to move quickly and effectively.”
Mr. Zelensky said that he would not attend the talks on Tuesday with American officials, but that the Ukrainian delegation would include the country’s foreign and defense ministers, a top military official and his chief of staff.
In the talks with U.S. officials, the Ukrainian delegation intends to raise its recent proposal for an immediate cessation of air and sea strikes.
Ukraine has been careful in framing its proposal as it seeks to smooth over relations with the Trump administration after a dust-up between Mr. Zelensky and the American president last month in the Oval Office. Over the weekend, French and British officials coached the Ukrainian delegation about how to talk with the Americans, a Ukrainian official with the delegation in Jeddah said.
Ukraine wants the truce at sea and in the air, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly of the delegation’s plans and who suggested the offer will be posed as a question.
“We don’t know if the Russians are ready for any steps to peace,” the official said, adding that the Ukrainians would ask if the Americans had insight into Russia’s position on the proposal.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that Mr. Zelensky does not “have the cards” given Russia’s military strength, and has all but demanded that Ukraine accept diplomatic terms set by the United States for a resolution of the war. Still, there are signs that Ukraine’s position on the battlefield is improving: Ukrainian troops have in recent months stalled a Russian offensive and in some places won back small patches of land.
Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, has said that Mr. Zelensky’s deferential posture after the blowup in the White House has improved Ukraine’s standing with American officials. Nonetheless, the U.S. has paused military support for Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky wrote on Saturday that he was “fully committed to constructive dialogue” and that he hoped to “discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps” during his visit to Saudi Arabia. Mr. Rubio will be in Jeddah for talks with Ukrainian officials from Monday through Wednesday, according to the U.S. State Department, and met with Prince Mohammed after arriving on Monday evening.
Following that meeting, the State Department said that they had discussed the threats from Houthi militants in Yemen, the promotion of government stability in Syria and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Mr. Rubio also “reiterated the United States’ firm commitment that any solution to the situation in Gaza must not include any role for Hamas,” according to Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokeswoman.
Mr. Trump’s position on Russia and Ukraine has sometimes been hard to pin down. On Friday, he said on social media that he was considering significant sanctions on Russia to help force a peace deal on Ukraine. He demanded that the two countries “get to the table right now, before it is too late.”
Hours later, he told reporters at the White House that he felt talks with Russia were going well and that he was “finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine.”
For Prince Mohammed, acting as a mediator in the war is an opportunity to solidify his influence beyond the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has avoided taking sides in the conflict and in August 2023, the kingdom hosted a conference in Jeddah with representatives of more than 40 countries to discuss pathways to peace. Ukraine said those consultations were “fruitful,” but Russia, which had not been invited, was dismissive of the meeting.
Ismaeel Naar and Kaly Soto contributed reporting.
