European leaders scramble to force their way to the table for any talks on the Ukraine war. Washington announced a team of senior US officials was planning to meet in Saudi Arabia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks. US President Donald Trump upended the status quo this week when he announced he was likely to soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start talks to end the conflict. But those discussions are at an embryonic stage — and others argue the focus needs to be on building up Ukraine’s own forces. US officials have sought to assure Ukraine that it will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine.. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday he blocked a deal that would have given the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources as it lacked \”security guarantees\” for Kyiv. But Washington has sent mixed messages to Kyiv, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appearing to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory.
