Zelensky says he WON’T accept the outcome of US-Moscow peace talks unless Ukraine is able to participate – as Lavrov says Russia will not give up any land

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv will not take part in US-Russian talks on the war and will not accept the outcome without having a seat at the table.

Zelensky said that Kyiv ‘did not know anything about’ the talks in Saudi Arabia this week, adding that his country ‘cannot recognise any things or any agreements about us without us. And we will not recognise such agreements.’

Speaking to journalists on a conference call from the United Arab Emirates, Zelensky said the talks would ‘yield no results’, given the absence of any Ukrainian officials.

He added that while he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, his trip to the Arab nation was unrelated to planned US-Russia talks there on Tuesday.

It comes as Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov insisted that Moscow has no plans to give territory it has seized in Ukraine over to Kyiv.

Lavrov said there could be ‘no thought’ of Moscow giving up land and asked: ‘What sort of territorial concessions do you want — that we give up Russian speakers or rare earths?’

The top Russian minister is visiting Riyadh to meet US officials for talks about the war as Putin and Trump prepare to meet face-to-face.

He said today’s talks will be primarily focused on ‘restoring the entire complex of US-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organizing a meeting of the two presidents’.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio is leading the American delegation to Saudi Arabia for direct talks with Russian officials in the coming days to seek an end to the fighting in Ukraine.

Rubio, speaking from Israel where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, said the coming weeks and days would determine whether Putin is serious about making peace.

The secretary of state said Putin ‘expressed his interest in peace’ during his call with Trump, who he said made clear ‘his desire to see an end of this conflict in a way that was enduring and that protected Ukrainian sovereignty.’ 

The talks will be among the first high-level in-person discussions in years between Russian and US officials and are meant to precede a meeting between the US and Russian presidents. 

They follow last week’s telephone call between Trump and Putin in which the US President said they ‘agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately’. 

The call upended years of US policy, ending the treatment of Russia as a pariah following its invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

After the call with Putin, Trump phoned Ukrainian President Zelensky to inform him about their conversation.

Trump insisted to reporters on Sunday that  Zelensky ‘will be involved’, but did not elaborate on how or to what extent.

However, Zelensky told reporters his country will not take part in US-Russia talks, adding that he will not accept the outcome of the summit if Ukraine does not take part.

The Ukrainian President said he would travel to Turkey on Monday and to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but that his trip to the Arab nation was unrelated to the planned US-Russia talks.

The Ukrainian president has repeatedly ruled out accepting a peace deal negotiated without Ukraine, telling NBC Meet the Press host Kristen Welker on Sunday that he would ‘never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine, never’.

‘The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses,’ the Eastern European president added. 

‘And we are thankful for all the support, unity between USA… But there is no[t] any leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us.’