Ukraine will not participate in the upcoming talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Abu Dhabi, where he is visiting as part of a Middle East tour, which also includes Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was unaware of the U.S.-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia and considers any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine to have no results.
"We cannot recognize any agreements about us without us," Zelenskyy told reporters in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
"And we will not recognize such agreements," he added.
Meanwhile, the U.S. presidential envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, told reporters that no one will force a peace deal on Zelenskyy, and that he and the people of Ukraine would make that call.
"Nobody will impose [a peace agreement] on an elected leader of a sovereign nation," Kellogg said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin's foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, are set to take part in bilateral talks with their U.S. counterparts in Saudi Arabia on February 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Peskov added that the meeting will focus on restoring relations between Moscow and Washington, while Ushakov told Russian state TV that the delegation would be approaching the talks with a "businesslike" attitude.
The United States will be represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is already in Riyadh, national security-adviser Mike Waltz, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, the State Department confirmed.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow with his Serbian counterpart ahead of the U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia on February 18, Lavrov said Europe had already had several chances to be involved in a settlement on Ukraine and that he didn't know how European states would contribute if they were invited to the negotiating table given that European politicians want the war to continue.
While there are different views on Ukraine among European politicians, most agree that they want "a just and lasting peace" to be settled with Ukraine at the table.
U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy "will be involved" in any peace negotiations to end the Russian war, while he also stated that he could meet "very soon" with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
Trump, in separate remarks to reporters on February 16, did not specify details as a flurry of diplomatic activity swirled from the Middle East to Paris and at a NASCAR speedway in Daytona, Florida.
"No time set, but it could be very soon," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about a potential meeting with Putin, possibly in Saudi Arabia.
"I think he wants to end [the war], and they want to end it fast. Both of them," he said. "Zelenskyy wants to end it, too."
Later, at the Florida speedway -- where Trump watched the Daytona 500 stock-car race -- he told reporters that Zelenskyy "will be involved" in peace talks amid some fears Washington will conclude a deal with Russia that could sideline Kyiv and Europe.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed officials, reported on February 16 that Trump wants to secure a cease-fire by Easter, which falls on April 20 this year both for Western and Orthodox churches.
The comments came as key U.S. leaders were preparing to hold discussions with Russia in Saudi Arabia in the coming days led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff and national-security adviser Mike Waltz are also set to participate, the White House has said.
"Hopefully we'll make some really good progress," Witkoff told Fox News.
Trump told reporters that his team has had "long and hard" talks with Russian officials and that Witkoff had spoken with Putin for three hours recently.
Speaking to CBS, Rubio, who arrived in Israel on February 15 after traveling to the Munich Security Conference, said the next few days would determine whether Putin is serious about peace in Ukraine.
Earlier, Keith Kellogg caused a stir when he said Europe may not be "at the table" if the United States brokers negotiations to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
That raised fears within the EU and Kyiv that they could be shut out of decisions regarding a potential deal.
However, Kellogg said Europe would not be left out of the decision process -- even if it was not "at the table" -- and that Ukraine would have a seat at the talks, although Kyiv has said it was not invited to the Saudi discussions.
Kellogg is expected to visit Ukraine on February 20, Zelenskyy said at a virtual press conference with Ukrainian reporters.
"I want him to visit the front line with me [...] We will meet [Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr] Syrskiy and maybe some brigade commanders," Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy arrived in the Middle East on February 16, but Kyiv said his visit to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey was aimed at boosting economic ties and that there were no plans to meet with U.S. or Russian officials.
Later, on February 17, Zelenskyy said he had arrived in Turkey for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish presidential spokesman Fahrettin Altun said Zelenskyy will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 18 to discuss "regional and global" issues.
Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, said that "there are no negotiators who will represent Ukraine in Saudi Arabia" in peace talks.
"Today, there is nothing on the negotiating table that could be discussed. Russia is not ready for negotiations," he told Ukrainian TV.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said he would not engage in negotiations before meeting with allies, including European leaders, to develop a strategy.
"I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine, never," Zelenskyy told NBC's Kristen Welker on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
He said there cannot be a legitimate peace plan in the works because "they can't have it without us.... Maybe there are some ideas."
In the same interview, Zelenskyy told Welker that Ukraine had suffered "46,000 killed soldiers" and approximately "380,000 wounded" since February 2022 in the war. Russia hasn't disclosed losses, but Western sources have put the death and wounded toll at more than 600,000, not including losses suffered by North Korean soldiers involved in the fighting.
A Ukrainian official said a team was in Saudi Arabia to prepare for a Zelenskyy visit but cited economic matters as the subject of the delegation's visit.
Rubio and other U.S. officials stressed that Ukraine and other European nations would be included in any meaningful negotiation sessions, if and when they take place.
"Ultimately, it will reach a point -- if it's real negotiations, and we're not there yet -- but if that were to happen, Ukraine will have to be involved because they're the ones that were invaded, and the Europeans will have to be involved because they have sanctions on Putin and Russia as well," Rubio said.
"We're just not there yet."
Meanwhile, some 4,600 kilometers away, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to host European leaders on February 17 in an emergency summit on the Ukraine war.
Some European leaders have expressed concerns that Trump will attempt to reach a peace deal with Putin that undermines broader European security concerns.
"Because of the acceleration of the Ukrainian issue, and as a result of what U.S. leaders are saying, there is a need for Europeans to do more, better and in a coherent way, for our collective security," a Macron adviser said.
The leaders from Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark are expected at the meeting, which takes place ahead of the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who will be at the Paris talks, stated he is prepared to deploy a peacekeeping force in Ukraine if a deal is reached to end the war.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Starmer said support for Ukraine means "being ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary."
"I do not say that lightly. I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way," Starmer wrote.
"But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine's security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country."
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, whose country has a long, tense border with Russia, said talks between Washington and Moscow must respect European security interests
"There's no way in which we should open the door for this Russian fantasy of a new, indivisible security order," he said.
With reporting by Reuters and AP