Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has been told by the US that he will have to give up land seized by Russia as part of peace talks in Saudi Arabia to end the brutal invasion of his nation.
Zelensky last night landed in Jeddah before talks that aimed to reconstruct the recently fractured relationship between the US and Ukraine.
While Zelensky, whose negotiators are expected to lay out a proposal of a sea and air truce with Russia, will not be allowed at the table with the US and Saudi Arabia, he said he hoped the talks were ‘fully constructive’ and would lead to ‘practical outcomes.’
But US secretary of state Marco Rubio, the US’ top diplomat, dashed these hopes on the rocks, telling reporters on the plane to Saudi Arabia: ‘The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014.
‘Both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation.’
Russia has not sent a delegation to Saudi Arabia, as it has only agreed to speak with Trump’s team.
While Ukraine has been strongarmed into unfavourable terms by Trump, including a massive rare earth minerals deal that would grant the United States access to key Ukrainian resources in exchange for the past and ongoing military aid to help fight the Russian invasion, and for Zelensky call an election and potentially step down as leader, Trump has not publicly asked for, nor received, any concessions from Vladimir Putin.
While talks continue in Saudi Arabia, Russian soldiers are attempting to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured, left) has been told by the US that he will have to give up land seized by Russia as part of peace talks in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian State Emergency Service personnel conduct an extinguishing work for the fire caused by a Shahed drone attack by Russian forces in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on March 11, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with the media on his military airplane as he flies to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia March 10, 2025
In response, Kyiv said it was reinforcing its troops involved in fighting in Russia’s region of Kursk, where Moscow’s forces have been regaining ground, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on Monday.
Ukrainian soldiers launched their audacious offensive into Russia’s Kursk in August, catching even their Western allies off guard and dealing an embarrassing blow to the Kremlin.
But Ukraine has been losing ground and conceded last month they had lost two-thirds of the territory they once controlled inside the region.
‘I made a decision to strengthen our grouping with the necessary forces and means, including electronic warfare and unmanned components,’ Syrsky wrote in a post on social media.
Russian has claimed it has taken back control of a string of villages, including in an accelerated advance over recent days.
Moscow also claimed to have captured a village inside Ukraine’s Sumy region, Novenke, which lies just several kilometres from a vital resupply route for Ukrainian forces still in Kursk.
Syrsky however said Monday that the dynamics of fighting between the Kursk and Sumy regions were ‘under the control of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.’
He addressed concerns circulating in Ukrainian media that his forces may be caught in a Russian net saying: ‘Currently, there is no threat of encirclement of our units in the Kursk region.’
According to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission, Friday was one of the deadliest days for Ukrainian civilians this year. Pictured: Paramedics treating an injured civilian in Ukraine
Russia has been emboldened by Trump’s decision, ramping up attacks on Ukraine in the days that followed the failed Oval Office meeting
Donald Trump is putting more pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to accept a raft of new terms if he wants to secure military aid and intelligence access
He conceded however that Ukrainian forces were buckling under mounting Russian pressure and were having to fall back to positions that are easier to hold.
‘The units are taking timely measures to manoeuvre to favourable defence lines,’ Syrsky said.
In the last few days, open source maps showed Russia piercing the frontline and carving out a narrow salient in the small piece of Russian territory that Ukraine occupied last year, partly as a possible bargaining chip in any future peace talks.
‘A number of settlements on the border, the names of which appear in the reports of Russian propagandists, no longer actually exist – they have been destroyed by the aggressor’s shelling,’ Syrskyi said.
‘Despite the involvement of a significant number of Russian troops in the offensive, reinforced by North Korean infantry, the enemy is suffering significant losses in manpower and equipment,’ he added.
