London – The United States is “almost” ready to raise its freezing of intelligence exchange with Ukraine, said President Donald Trump on Sunday, while US and Ukrainian negotiators prepare for bilateral conversations in Saudi Arabia, they intended to move towards a peace agreement to end the three -year invasion of Russia.
“Well, we have done it,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One when asked if he would consider resuming intelligence exchange. “We want to do everything possible to make Ukraine seriously about doing something,” he added.
Trump’s administration has embarked on a dramatic pivot away from the “Ironclad” support of Ukraine practiced by the administration of former President Joe Biden.
Trump has falsely blamed Ukraine for beginning the war, tried to undermine the legitimacy of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, looked for kyiv with a strong arm in a controversial minerals that share an agreement and freeze military aid and intelligence support in an attempt to force Ukraine to make concessions to Russia.
Ukrainian troops walk through a forest on March 9, 2025 in the Sumy region, Ukraine.
Diego Fedele/Getty Images
Tuesday’s conversations in Riad are intended to revitalize bilateral relations after weeks of tense exchanges between Washington, DC and kyiv, which culminated in an explosive confrontation of the Oval office between Trump, Zelenskyy and vice president JD Vance.
The US delegation in Saudi Arabia will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. The Ukrainian team will be led by Andriy Yermak, head of the Zelenskyy presidential office. The American side expects Ukraine to show disposition to make peace, Trump suggested on Sunday.
“We look at many things,” he said. “We have great meetings. As you know, it is Saudi Arabia that will include Russia. It will be Ukraine. We will see if we can do something.”
“I think everyone wants to be done,” added the president. “We are going to advance a lot.”
“I think they will sign the mineral agreement,” Trump said when asked about progress in the controversial agreement. “I want you to want peace.” Trump said Ukraine has not yet demonstrated that will.
President Donald Trump talks to journalists while the White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, is next to him aboard Air Force One on his return to Washington, on March 9, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Trump avoided responding if he would place sanctions or tariffs to Russia and pointed out the next meetings of White House officials in Saudi Arabia. The president also avoided giving a definitive response when asked if the United States would resume the aid to Ukraine if the Mineral Agreement is signed.
Zelenskyy will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with the heir prince of the kingdom and the de facto ruler, Mohammed Bin Salman.
“Tomorrow we will continue working to bring peace closer, there will be my visit to Saudi Arabia,” wrote the Ukrainian president on social networks on Sunday. “In addition, today, the meeting of our teams, Ukraine and the United States, in Saudi Arabia has been prepared even more. We expect results, both to bring peace and in continuous support.”
The public rupture of the U “U.-UKRAINE has caused concern among European leaders, and the leaders joined around Zelenskyy and urged him to repair their frayed relationships with Trump. The officials in Russia seemed jubilant, openly suggesting that the Trump administration had aligned their views with those of the Kremlin.
Trump and his senior officials have said that both Ukraine and Russia are expected to make concessions in search of a peace agreement to end Moscow’s invasion, which is only the last chapter in more than a decade of cross -border aggression.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, arrives at an EU summit in the European Council building in Brussels, on March 6, 2025.
Omar Havana/AP
Last week, Trump suggested in a publication to Truth Social that he was “strongly considering large -scale sanctions” and tariffs to Russia until an agreement is reached, and added that Moscow “is absolutely ‘hitting’ Ukraine on the battlefield at this time.” Trump also said in a joint session of Congress that he had received “strong signs” that Russia is ready to make peace.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that US conversations in Saudi Arabia are a “positive” development, although he emphasized that there are unresolved “nuances”.
“The question is who to negotiate?” Peskov told reporters. Russia has repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as an illegitimate president, citing the delay to the planned presidential elections of 2024 in Ukraine necessary for the imposition of the martial law.
The Kremlin has also cited a Ukrainian decree of September 2022 in which Zelenskyy declared negotiations with Putin “impossible”, after Moscow said he had annexed four partially occupied Ukrainian regions.
Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine continue their attack campaigns and attack of long -range drones. Mortal weekend attacks by Russia caused the conviction of several European nations.
The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, for example, wrote in X: “This is what happens when someone postponed to barbarians. More bombs, more aggression, more victims.”
On Sunday night he saw Russia launch 176 attack drones to Ukraine, according to the Ukraine Air Force, of which 130 were demolished and 42 lost in flight without causing damage. The Air Force reported impacts on the regions of Kharkiv, Poltava and Kyiv.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said it demolished nine Ukrainian drones during the night.
The tracers look in the night sky when the Ukrainian Anti-Aire units shoot the drones during a Russian strike against kyiv, Ukraine, on March 10, 2025.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Kelsey Walsh of ABC News contributed to this report.
