17 February 2025
Russia has no plans to give up territory it has seized in Ukraine, its foreign minister said.
Ahead of US-Russia talks expected to begin on Tuesday, Sergei Lavrov said there could be “no thought of” Moscow giving away land to Kyiv.
“What sort of territorial concessions do you want — that we give up Russian speakers or rare earths?” he argued.
The Kremlin said today it had sent Mr Lavrov and a foreign policy adviser to Saudi Arabia for talks with US officials on ending the war in Ukraine and preparing for a personal summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, arrived in the Gulf state earlier on Monday and is expected to meet Russia’s delegation alongside Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, and Steve Witkoff, the White House Middle East envoy.
Ukraine’s European allies convened an emergency meeting in Paris, set to begin around 4pm GMT, after Washington signalled that they would be frozen out of early peace talks.
“If Europe wants to continue the war in Ukraine, then why would they be invited to the negotiating table?” Mr Lavrov added, claiming that “Europe has already had several chances to be involved in a settlement”.
Poland will not send troops to Ukraine, says PM
Poland will not send troops to Ukraine but will continue to give Kyiv support as it has up to now, Donald Tusk, the prime minister, said.
He said: “When it comes to Poland’s support, the matter is settled… We are not planning to send Polish troops to Ukrainian territory.”
Mr Tusk added that there must be a greater of presence of “European security forces” in Poland and that he will ask European leaders at a crisis meeting in Paris today “if they are really ready to take serious decisions on defence”.
“We can’t effectively help Ukraine if we don’t act now to make sure we can defend ourselves,” he said.
The Polish leader also called for “close cooperation” with the US, saying he would oppose any voices that are in favour of “some kind of competition” between Europe and Washington.
Zelensky: Ukraine will not recognise any deals made without its involvement
Ukraine will not recognise any deals made about its future without its involvement, Volodymyr Zelensky said, with US and Russian officials due to meet in Saudi Arabia this week for talks on ending the war.
“We cannot recognise … any agreements about us without us,” the Ukrainian president said.
He added that Ukraine will not take part in this week’s negotiations and that his country “did not know anything” about them.
Zelenksy to visit Saudi Arabia after US-Russia meeting
Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, one day after a meeting there between top Russian and US officials, the Ukrainian leader’s spokesman said.
Zelensky had announced the trip along with stops in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey last week without giving dates, adding he had no plans to meet Russian or US officials.
His trip will come one day after Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, meets US officials as part of what the Kremlin says are efforts to repair Moscow’s ties with Washington.
The UAE has played an important role facilitating the exchange of Russians and Ukrainians prisoners and Mr Zelensky said its mediation had “saved many lives.” He said the two sides had signed an economic cooperation document and discussed humanitarian issues.
European leaders ‘throwing temper tantrum’ over Ukraine talks
European leaders are throwing a “temper tantrum” over being frozen out of early Ukraine peace talks, a former Trump national security official said.
Referring to an emergency meeting of Ukraine’s European allies in Paris today, called in response to US intervention, Fred Fleitz told the BBC: “I don’t know what the purpose of this summit is.”
“The fact that European leaders are not involved is not an emergency. It seems to be FOMO – fear of missing out.”
“I think European leaders are simply throwing a temper tantrum that they’re not meeting with Putin today, that they’re not gonna be involved in meetings with Zelensky.”
Mr Fleitz is a former CIA analyst and vice chairman of the America First Policy Institute think tank. He was a key Trump adviser during the US president’s first term, serving as chief of staff of the US national security council.
On Saturday, Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine, said Europe would not be directly involved in talks on Ukraine between Washington and Moscow, which are expected to begin in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.
“What sort of territorial concessions do you want — that we give up Russian speakers or rare earths?” he argued.”
The rat nazi is squatting on $6-7 trillion worth of Ukrainian resources. Does Ukraine give that away to nazis or does it fight on; probably without the US; which is now a defacto ruZZia ally?
“What sort of territorial concessions do you want — that we give up Russian speakers or rare earths?” he argued.
So Lavrov is finally admitting that this has nothing to do with NATO, nazis, or even russian speakers. It’s a squalid land grab. mafia land is like a swarm of locusts. It will devour up resources then move on to the next target.
Yes.
I don’t think putinaZis have mentioned the rare earths before. It’s a sign of their confidence in getting pretty much what they want from Trumpkov, Rubio etc.
Note also F1 that Tusk has shown himself to be another Rubio; once a steadfast supporter of Ukraine, now unwilling even to send peacekeeping troops.
That’s one of the biggest armies in Europe that will not be available.
That leaves the UK alone, with perhaps France, the Scandies and a few others.
It really puts a dent in the would be peacekeeping forces.
It appears that Trump is splitting the EU/US alliance for Putler. Trump is going to have a heap of problems on his plate trying to split russia and china. The US have tried before and failed miserably.