Saudi Arabia hosts Ukraine peace talks, Russia not invited

On August 5, Saudi Arabia began hosting two-day peace talks on Russia’s war against Ukraine, reports Reuters. The Saudi government channel Al-Ekhbariya also announced the beginning of the talks.

The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, posted Ukrainian and Saudi flag emojis on his Telegram channel.

Reuters noted that high-level officials from around 40 countries are taking part in the talks. Ukraine will present President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace formula.

Representatives from the U.S., the E.U., India, and Brazil will attend the talks. On August 4, China announced that it would send Li Hui, the Special Representative of China on Eurasian Affairs, to attend.

The New York Times wrote that Ukraine was starting “a new diplomatic push” at the summit in Saudi Arabia in order to secure the support of countries that have not chosen a side in the conflict and to “weaken Russia’s positions.”

Russia was not invited to the summit. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the peace talks an attempt “to take advantage of the sincere intentions of a number of states in order to forge an anti-Russian coalition.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will follow the talks, but, according to the Kremlin, the conditions for peace talks with Ukraine are not present given Kyiv’s current position.

A source from Russia’s Foreign Ministry told state news agency RIA Novosti that Saudi Arabia notified Russia that it would inform them of the summit’s results.