Critics point to the agreement made by senior Russian and American diplomats in Riyadh to begin discussing a peace process for Ukraine. A senior European diplomat and the Ukrainian leader voiced their worries about the development.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated, “It is fundamental that any negotiations on ending the war do not take place behind the backs of the key actors affected by the consequences of Russian aggression,” following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.

He referred to the talks as pointless since Ukraine was not involved.

This week, Zelenskyy had been organizing his own trip to Saudi Arabia. However, according to Ukrainian media, he decided to postpone the trip after hearing the news.

Elina Valtonen, the foreign minister of Finland, is equally deeply concerned. On Tuesday, she spoke to NHK. “We have nothing against the United States and Russia sitting down,” she stated. However, it goes without saying that they cannot agree on anything that concerns Ukraine and Europe.

Because “there have been many concessions coming out of the mouth of the Americans in the past days,” she added, she is “pretty sure that there have been quite many champagne bottles in Moscow in the recent days.”

Valtonen emphasized that Trump’s promise of “peace through strength” must be implemented by the US. The Russian threat, she continued, does not disappear by “giving in.”