President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travels to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, ahead of talks between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia at an increasingly precarious moment for Kiev.
The United States, once Ukraine's main ally, has upended its wartime policies in its stated pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting, engaging directly with Moscow while cutting off military assistance and intelligence sharing for Kiev.
Zelenskyy is expected to meet the Saudi crown prince, whose country hosted Russian-US talks on Ukraine last month.
Tuesday's talks between US and Ukrainian officials — the first official meeting since a disastrous Oval Office encounter between Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump — are expected to focus on a bilateral minerals deal and how to end the war.
Zelenskyy has said he will not attend Tuesday's talks with US officials and that the Ukrainian delegation will include his chief of staff, his foreign and defence ministers and a top military official in the presidential administration.
"On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps," Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
"Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively."
Negotiations for peace deal
Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been arranging the talks, has said the idea is to "get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well".
Zelenskyy has called for a truce in the air and at sea, as well as a prisoner exchange, in what he says could be a test of Russia's commitment to ending the war.
Moscow has rejected the idea of a temporary truce, which has also been proposed by Britain and France, saying it was a bid to buy time for Kiev and prevent its military collapse.
With US support in question, Zelenskyy has been urging his European allies to ramp up their support as Kiev's battlefield position deteriorates and it faces mounting pressure to retreat from Russia's Kursk region.
Russia holds around a fifth of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014, and its troops are also pressing in the eastern Donetsk region, having ramped up drone and missile strikes on cities and towns far from the front.
