What Zelenskyj still has left
For Ukraine, it is a matter of survival; the prospects in Jeddah are poor. The country can really only rely on itself.
he would have thought three years ago that Ukraine would have to conduct peace negotiations with the USA, not Russia. The upcoming talks between government delegations from Kyiv and Washington in Saudi Arabia are not about ending the Russian war of aggression. They are about whether relations between Ukraine and the USA can be normalized again.
Trump has abandoned Ukraine militarily and is throwing it to Russia. Just on Sunday, Trump publicly questioned whether Ukraine would survive at all - Putin doesn't need to say anything anymore, his colleague is doing the dirty work.
For Ukraine, it is a matter of survival. Trump wants to make Putin a comprehensive peace offer at Ukraine's expense, and the Ukrainian team in Saudi Arabia can either accept this offer in advance and sign the de facto surrender, or reject it and expose themselves to the risk of Washington and Moscow officially joining forces militarily to destroy Ukraine in the name of "peace."
There is only one political calculation that Kyiv can still rely on: namely that Russia is not ready for peace with the USA anyway. Moscow has already made it clear that there will be no ceasefire in Ukraine , nor any concessions. At some point, so the desperate hope goes, Trump will notice. And if one assumes that Trump's deal will never become reality, it is easier to signal concessions now because they will never have to be fulfilled.
It is a risky strategy. But what else can Kyiv do? Wait for Europe? That takes too long, and too many forces in Europe would sacrifice Ukraine so that they themselves would be spared. Ukraine can now really only rely on itself and create facts on the war front. It has nothing left to lose.
