Ukrainian military aid in the Middle East and the postponement of trilateral talks. Key points from Zelenskyʼs conversation with journalists

President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with journalists. He touched on the topics of trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia, the sending of Ukrainian military aid to Arab states, the arrest of the “Oschadbank” collectors in Hungary, and others. Babel has collected the presidentʼs key statements.

Negotiations between Ukraine, the US and Russia

After being postponed from Abu Dhabi, the talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia were scheduled to be held in Turkey on March 10-11. However, they were postponed again at the request of the Americans. They are now expected to be held next week in Turkey or Switzerland.

Russia is currently in dialogue with the US about lifting sanctions, Ukraine believes that the US will not make such concessions. Yesterday, the US President Donald Trump reported the lifting of sanctions against "certain countries" in order to reduce oil prices, which have risen since the start of the war in the Middle East.

The Americans did not provide Ukraine with details of the March 9 conversation between Trump and Putin.

Ukrainian military assistance in the Middle East

Ukraine has sent three fully equipped teams [to combat drones] to the Middle East: to Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Yesterday, Zelensky also told The New York Times that Ukraine had sent its drone experts to protect American bases in Jordan.

In exchange for aid in the Middle East, Ukraine continues to offer the US the Drone Deal — financing the production of drones in Ukraine for export. Ukraine also wants missiles for Patriot air defense systems.

In order for Ukraine to produce anti-ballistic missiles itself, it needs licenses from the United States — Zelensky has discussed this issue with the former and current US presidential administrations, manufacturers, but there is no answer yet. If there were licenses, Ukraine would have the capacity to provide these missiles not only to itself, but also to Europe.

Other statements by Zelensky:

• Zelensky called the detention of Ukrainian debt collectors in Hungary banditry. The main thing for Europe right now is not to remain silent about this situation.

• There is currently no threat of a Russian offensive in the Sumy region, but the Russians have not abandoned the idea of creating a “buffer zone” in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. On March 6, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that Russian military personnel had probably kidnapped 19 residents of the village of Sopych (Esmanska community, Sumy region) and taken them to Russian territory.
• The President confirmed the successful strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Bryansk — this was reported to him by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky. Monitoring channels write about one of the largest microelectronics enterprises in Russia "Kremniy El".

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