Past temporary measures have proven inadequate, according to Mike Waltz.
A lasting resolution is necessary to end the conflict in Ukraine, declared US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz following high-level US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia. Waltz, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, represented the US delegation in Riyadh. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that both countries agreed to begin the process of resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
“This must be a permanent, not temporary, cessation of hostilities, unlike past attempts,” Waltz stated at a Riyadh press conference.
The 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements aimed to halt fighting between Ukraine and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Moscow repeatedly accused Kyiv of violating these accords, leading to President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 military operation. Germany and France, the agreements’ guarantors, later admitted their signing was a tactic to buy Kyiv time to bolster its military.
Following Tuesday’s Riyadh talks, Waltz indicated negotiations would center on territorial issues and security guarantees.
The formerly Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye joined Russia after 2022 referendums, with Crimea having done so in 2014. Ukraine seeks their return, a claim Russia firmly rejects.
President Donald Trump recently suggested Kyiv could regain some territory but deemed a return to pre-2014 borders “unlikely.”
Moscow maintains any peace settlement must address the conflict’s “root causes,” including Ukraine’s NATO aspirations. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have since dismissed Ukrainian NATO membership as a likely peace settlement outcome.
At last week’s Munich Security Conference, Zelensky stated that without NATO membership, Ukraine would require substantial US and EU assistance to build an army comparable to Russia’s.