World
What to know ahead of the talks between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia is set to host talks Tuesday between the United States and Ukraine after an argument erupted during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Feb. 28 visit to the White House.
Riyadh, the capital of the oil-rich kingdom, may seem like an unusual venue for talks aimed at smoothing over relations after the blowup. But Saudi Arabia under its assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been positioning itself as an ideal location for possible peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow and even the first face-to-face talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Here’s what to know about why this meeting is taking place and Saudi Arabia’s role:
Why are these talks happening?
U.S. and Ukrainian officials will meet after the Oval Office meeting between Zelenskyy, Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance descended into an extraordinary 10-minute argument before journalists.
Trump at one point admonished Zelenskyy by angrily saying: “You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country.” Zelenskyy ended up leaving the White House without signing a deal that included granting the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. Kyiv hoped that deal would ensure the continued flow of U.S. military support that Ukraine urgently needs as it battles Russia in the war that began after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Where will these talks take place?
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement Friday identified the location for the talks as Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea. It’s not clear why the kingdom picked Jeddah as opposed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital city where the initial Russia-U.S. talks took place on Feb. 18. However, Jeddah has hosted other diplomatic engagements in the past and is home to royal palaces.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the kingdom would continue to pursue “a lasting peace to end the Ukrainian crisis.”
“The kingdom has continued these efforts over the past three years by hosting many meetings on this matter,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Who will attend the talks?
Zelenskyy plans to visit Saudi Arabia on Monday ahead of the talks. He earlier delayed a trip to the kingdom after traveling to the neighboring United Arab Emirates, which also has been considered as a possible venue for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
“We continue working on the relevant steps with our partners who want peace, who want it just as much as we do,” Zelenskyy said Friday. “There will be a lot of work here in Europe, with America in Saudi Arabia – we are preparing a meeting to accelerate peace and strengthen the foundations of security.”
Zelenskyy wrote online that a team including his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov traveling with him to Saudi Arabia will take part in the talks. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the American team for the Ukrainian talks and meet with Prince Mohammed.
Sybiha also spoke Friday with Rubio ahead of the talks. Sybiha described it as a “constructive call.” A two-sentence readout from the State Department said Rubio “underscored President Trump is determined to end the war as soon as possible and emphasized that all sides must take steps to secure a sustainable peace.”
Why are these talks in Saudi Arabia?
Since assuming power in Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed took an aggressive posture both at home and abroad. His public image reached its nadir with the 2018 slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, believed by the United States and others to be at the prince’s orders.
In the last two years, however, Prince Mohammed instead has reached a détente with Iran, hosted Zelenskyy for an Arab League summit and been involved in negotiations over the wars in Sudan and the Gaza Strip. Riyadh also maintained ties to Russia through the OPEC+ oil cartel while Western nations levied sanctions against it. That’s reasserted the role the kingdom long has perceived itself as having — being the leader of the Sunni Muslim world and a dominant force in the Middle East.
Hosting Russia-U.S. talks, possibly drawing Trump to the kingdom for his first foreign trip in this term through investments and other possible meetings only raise Saudi Arabia’s profile further as a neutral territory for high-stakes negotiations. Saudi Arabia’s autocratic government, compliant media and distance from the war also allows for talks to take place in a tightly controlled country with relative privacy.
What does this mean for the war and the wider world?
Trump remains focused on reaching some kind of peace deal to stop the war. His approach toward Ukraine so far has relied far more on stick than carrot — limiting their access to intelligence and weaponry. While conciliatory toward Putin, Trump recently also threatened new sanctions against Russia over its ceaseless attacks on Ukrainian cities.
If Ukraine and the U.S. reach some sort of understanding acceptable to Trump, that could accelerate his administration’s push to talks. However, the rest of Europe remains skeptical as they’ve been sidelined from the talks. The European Union last week agreed to boost the continent’s defenses and to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security.
World
Kilauea displays lava fountains for the 37th time since its eruption began last year
HONOLULU (AP) — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet (122 meters) into the air.
The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No homes were threatened.
It’s the 37th time Kilauea has shot lava since last December, when the current eruption began.
The latest lava display was preceded by sporadic spattering and overflows that began Friday. Each eruptive episode has lasted about a day or less. The volcano has paused for at least a few days in between.
In some cases, Kilauea’s lava towers have soared as high as skyscrapers. The volcano has generated such tall fountains in part because magma — which holds gases that are released as it rises — has been traveling to the surface through narrow, pipelike vents.
Kilauea is on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s about 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.
It’s one of the world’s most active volcanoes and one of six active volcanoes in Hawaii.
World
Russia warns it may reject US-Ukraine peace plan if it fails to uphold Alaska summit ‘understandings’
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested Moscow could reject the White House’s latest Ukraine peace deal framework if it doesn’t uphold the “spirit and letter” of the understandings reached at the August Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov said at a news conference Tuesday that Russia is awaiting the updated version of the Trump administration’s latest peace plan aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
He warned that if the terms of the “key understandings” are “extinguished” then the situation would become “fundamentally different.”
Russia has maintained its maximalist demands in negotiations, insisting Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and required to give up the rest of the Donbas as part of any peace deal.
RUSSIA BOMBARDS KYIV, KILLING AT LEAST 6, AS TRUMP PEACE PLAN MOVES FORWARD
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivers a speech for heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Russia in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 19, 2022. (Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool/AP Photo)
John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia Program, told Fox News Digital Moscow’s intransigence over the past 10 months has been the main obstacle to Trump’s diplomatic efforts.
“The United States has really shot itself in the foot by kind of flip-flopping between strategies. One month you’re trying to pressure the Russians and saying they’re the obstacle to peace. The next minute you’re trying to, you know, force their terms on Kyiv,” said Hardie.
“What we really need is sustained military support for Ukraine and economic pressure on Russia, and Putin has to realize that neither the Ukrainian military nor Western, especially U.S., resolve, are going to falter.”
Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine Sept. 7, 2025. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo)
Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Tuesday he remains skeptical about an end to the war, arguing the United States lacks the leverage to compel Moscow to halt its invasion.
NATO JETS SCRAMBLED AMID RUSSIA’S LARGEST DRONE ATTACK ON UKRAINE
“Vladimir Putin, his strategic objective has always been to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine. He’ll engage in negotiations, but he does it to ensure that he’s asserting the primacy of Russia in his self-designated sphere of influence,” said Hoffman. “I just don’t see any evidence that Russia is going to pause in their relentless attacks on Ukraine.”
Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit conduct mortar training as members of the Anti-UAV unit test an FPV drone inhibitor in Lyman, Ukraine. (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukraine agreed Tuesday to a peace deal to end the war with Russia, but some details still need to be finalized, a U.S. official told Fox News.
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U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi Monday and Tuesday to discuss the framework for a Ukraine peace deal. The U.S. official said a Ukrainian delegation was also in Abu Dhabi and in contact with Driscoll and his team.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report
World
Hungary’s Orbán looks to meet Putin in Moscow amid Ukraine deal talks
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will travel to Moscow on Friday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to media reports.
The information came from Hungarian government sources who were involved in the preparations of the trip, according to investigative central European outlet VSquare.
The Hungarian government has not confirmed the visit at this time, with Budapest saying it would inform the public about Orbán’s programme in due time.
The agenda for the meeting is not yet known. But Orbán has maintained ties to Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the two leaders have kept in regular touch, meeting in person three times since early 2022.
The Hungarian premier has repeatedly stated he was in favour of an immediate ceasefire and peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Orbán called on the European Union to support Washington’s peace efforts and engage in direct negotiations with Russia.
‘”Europeans must immediately and unconditionally support the peace initiative of the President of the United States,” Orbán said in a letter sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday.
“In addition to supporting the US president, we must, without delay, launch autonomous and direct diplomatic negotiations with Russia,” he added.
Europeans ‘prefer to continue the war,’ Orbán says
Hungary is one of the few European countries that imports large quantities of Russian oil and gas, despite the European Union’s efforts to decouple from Moscow’s fossil fuels.
During a visit to Washington in November, Orbán secured exemptions from Washington’s secondary tariffs targeting Russia’s oil exporters Rosneft and Lukoil.
Addressing US President Donald Trump, Orbán also blamed the European Union for what he said was its support of the war.
“Your peace efforts are splendid, but the problem is Brussels, the Europeans. They prefer to continue the war, because they still think Ukraine can win on the front line,” Orbán said.
Earlier, Trump announced direct talks with Putin in Budapest, only for the meeting to be called off by Washington, citing a lack of agreement with Moscow.
Following the leak of the US-Russia 28-point plan last week, said to be strongly in favour of Moscow, Ukrainian and European representatives have met with their US counterparts for further talks, followed by a counterproposal offering more guarantees for Ukraine.
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