President Trump wants to end the war in Ukraine.
And this week, US And Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to talk about beginning to do just that.
The US Says it's the first step towards a peace deal.
But there's one important voice that is very notably not at the negotiating Ukraine and its president,
Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our back without our involvement.
Zelensky and many Ukrainians say
that they are being sidelined in negotiating the end of a war they have been fighting for the last three years.
From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports.
I'm Martine powers.
It's Wednesday, February 19th.
Today I talk with my colleague Michael Birnbaum about what kind of peace deal the US And Russia have been discussing and whether Ukraine will have a say in its future.
All right.
So Michael, you cover the White House and foreign policy,
and you've also covered diplomacy and national security for the Post.
So I wanted to ask you to help make sense of what is happening right now.
It's kind of surprising to see these talks about ending the war in Ukraine without Ukraine being involved in the talks.
So can you walk me through what led up to this moment and what led up to these meetings between the US And Russia and Saudi Arabia?
Well, Martine, I have been covering Russia and Ukraine and their tangly,
twisty relations for more than a decade.