Chinese President Xi Jinping has met top corporate leaders, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, at a business symposium in Beijing, state media reported.
Since coming to power more than a decade ago, Xi has consistently sought to bolster the role of state enterprises in the world’s second-largest economy and warned against the “disorderly” expansion of the private sector.
But reports last week said he was preparing to meet business luminaries as he battles a slowing economy beset by a real-estate crisis, persistently low consumption, and high youth unemployment.
State broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday that the meeting took place at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, with a video showing Ma standing and applauding as Xi entered a lavish room.
CCTV did not immediately give details of the content of the meeting.
Ma’s inclusion hints at the billionaire magnate’s potential public rehabilitation after years out of the spotlight following a tangle with regulators.
The former English teacher founded tech behemoth Alibaba in 1999 and built it into one of China’s most recognisable and dominant private companies.
He once cultivated an outspoken public persona but reined in his pronouncements towards the end of the last decade as Xi oversaw a sweeping crackdown on the country’s once-freewheeling technology and internet platforms.
In 2020, authorities cancelled the blockbuster IPO of Alibaba affiliate Ant Group at the last minute – notably after Ma made a speech criticising regulators.
Ma is no longer an executive at Alibaba but is believed to retain a significant shareholding in the company, despite spending the past few years focusing on philanthropy and rural education.
Alibaba, which is expected to publish its latest quarterly earnings report this week, has seen its shares soar more than 40 percent so far this year.
Other participants in Monday’s meeting included Ren Zhengfei – the founder of tech titan Huawei – and Wang Chuanfu, who established electric vehicle giant BYD.
CCTV broadcast clips of Xi, Ren and Wang addressing the meeting but did not immediately provide audio or written details of what they said.
Also in attendance were Robin Zeng, the founder of battery powerhouse CATL, and Wang Xing, the co-founder of internet platform Meituan.
China has struggled to sustain a strong recovery from the pandemic, and last year the economy grew 5 percent, which was among the slowest expansions in decades.
Beijing is expected to target a similar level of growth in 2025, but may face headwinds as US President Donald Trump renews his hardball trade policy with hefty tariffs.
Trump has already announced additional levies of 10 percent on all imports from China, with Beijing hitting back immediately with tariffs of its own, targeting coal and gas.
South Korea has suspended downloads of DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot pending a review of the Chinese start-up’s privacy standards.
South Korea’s privacy watchdog said on Monday that DeepSeek’s R1 chatbot was removed from the local versions of Apple’s App Store and Google Play after the Hangzhou-based firm acknowledged that it had failed to comply with personal data protection rules.
The Personal Information Protection Commission said in a statement that DeepSeek accepted its proposal to suspend downloads of the app.
The chatbot is still available for those who have already downloaded the app.
“To prevent further concerns from spreading, the commission recommended that DeepSeek temporarily suspend its service while making the necessary improvements,” the commission said, adding that bringing the app in line with local regulations would “inevitably take a significant amount of time”.
DeepSeek did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
The move comes after the privacy watchdog said last month that it would send a written request to DeepSeek seeking details about how it manages users’ personal data.
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy earlier this month announced a temporary ban on employees using DeepSeek on their devices, citing security concerns.
Australia and Taiwan have banned the chatbot on government devices, while the United States Congress is considering a bill to implement a similar ban.
Italy’s data protection agency has ordered DeepSeek to limit the processing of Italian users’ data pending further information about how it is managed.
DeepSeek burst into the limelight last month when it announced that it had developed its chatbot at a tiny fraction of the cost of models created by tech giants such as Google and OpenAI.
While DeepSeek’s Silicon Valley rivals have poured billions of dollars into their AI models, R1’s development team said in a research paper that they had spent less than $6m on computing power to train the chatbot.
The announcement almost immediately raised existential questions about Silicon Valley’s business model of investing huge sums in AI.
Investors concerned about DeepSeek’s effect on the AI industry last month wiped about $1 trillion off the market value of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” tech firms in a single day.
Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka – The sun hung low over the Indian Ocean, casting an amber glow on the waves as a heated argument erupted in Arugam Bay, a popular beach in eastern Sri Lanka.
In the water, a group of local surfers were engaged in a dispute with Israeli tourists that kicked off over surf etiquette – or rather, from the perspective of the Sri Lankans, a lack of it.
Jeevan Hall, an internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan surfer, was in the lineup of the surf when he encountered an Israeli tourist repeatedly taking waves without leaving any for others. Frustrated, Hall approached the tourist – an off-duty soldier of the Israeli army – and asked him to respect the surfing code of conduct and share the waves.
What started as an innocuous request quickly escalated into a tiff. Two of the soldier’s friends, also Israeli soldiers on a break, joined in. The three started paddling around him in the water, hurling insults in Hebrew.
Other surfers rushed to support Hall, only to be met with accusations from the Israelis: “You only have issues with us because of the war.”
Hall knew the soldiers were referring to Israel’s war on Gaza. He quickly clarified that his frustration had nothing to do with politics but with the soldier’s blatant disregard for surf manners.
“This is a very common thing that happens in Arugam Bay,” Hall later told Al Jazeera.
But there is a reason why the Israeli soldiers referred to the war that is on a tenuous pause for the moment because of a ceasefire. In Sri Lanka, as in many other parts of the world, they are no longer as welcome as before.
Trouble in paradise
For decades, Sri Lanka has been a haven for international tourists seeking its pristine beaches, world-class surf, and a slice of tropical paradise – all at a relatively lesser cost than similar sites in other parts of the world.
Among the visitors, young Israeli tourists have carved out a notable presence, particularly the reservists – Israelis who have come out of the country’s compulsory military service.
In 2022, 9,000 Israeli nationals entered Sri Lanka, with the figure increasing by 1,000 the next year, according to local authorities.
In 2024, however, as Israel’s military campaign in Gaza turned into a genocide, the number of Israeli visitors to Sri Lanka doubled with an estimated 20,000 entering the South Asian island.
Mobile phone advertisements in Hebrew language at Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka [Prinita Thevarajah/Al Jazeera]
Shiro Jeyawadne, a Sri Lankan who moves between the east and south surf season each year, working in restaurants and bars along the coast, said she believes Israelis are vacationing in greater numbers in Sri Lanka as a way to “get over” the war they participated in.
“They don’t seem to care that there is tension between the wider community with them being here, their minds are elsewhere,” she told Al Jazeera.
In the island’s tourist towns such as Arugam Bay, the sight of business signs in Hebrew is normal, highlighting the enclaves of Israeli reservists who often stay for months on end. At least 100 Israelis have settled in the town, which has a total population of fewer than 4,000.
“I never need to know if my friends will be there. When I come to Sri Lanka, I know there will be other Israelis I can spend my trip with,” Tel Aviv-based T Oko told Al Jazeera.
For years, the relations between the local residents and Israeli visitors had been cordial as the influx contributed to a tourism-dependent Sri Lankan economy.
But cracks in this dynamic are now visible.
Several coastal tourist destinations – including Indonesia in 2018 and the Maldives in 2024 – banned Israeli passport holders from entering their countries. In December, Australia denied the entry of two Israeli soldiers who had served in Gaza.
In Sri Lanka, some believe that following suit would lead to an influx of “more ethically-minded” tourists who are otherwise hesitant to visit due to the dominance of Israeli reservists on the island’s beaches.
“The vibe would be different, the coastline culture would be more connected,” Jack Campbell, a long-term resident originally from Australia, told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a snowball effect because they exist with a group mentality. I don’t feel safe for my family here,” he said, referring specifically to Israeli soldiers who have been flagged as suspected war criminals.
‘War criminals’ on holiday
Gaza war crimes allegations and illegal businesses run by Israelis have prompted widespread anger and resentment among local communities in Sri Lanka. While a fragile ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since January, fears that the war is far from over are pervasive, worsened by provocative statements from leaders in Israel and its main global supporter, the United States.
It is illegal to work on a tourist visa in Sri Lanka. Yet, from hospitality and hotels to nightlife and wellness studios, unlicensed Israeli businesses have mushroomed across the island. Currently, there are more than 50 Israeli tourist ventures on the island – many of them owned by previous or current reservists with the help of corrupt officials, and often sidelining local businesses.
“We are cognisant that Sri Lankan workers in tourist hotspots need the income and perceive they are gaining income from Israeli businesses and tourists,” Serena Burgess, a Colombo-based activist involved in the island’s pro-Palestine movements, told Al Jazeera.
“From what we can gather, quite a lot of these businesses are sending profits to Israel through credit card transactions,” she said.
Sri Lankan activists organise campaigns to inform people of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the extent of Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territory.
Activists also work towards the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Sri Lanka, distributing lists of Israel-linked corporations and organisations to people. Most of these activists requested anonymity due to security concerns.
A pro-Palestine sticker seen on a signboard in Ella, central Sri Lanka [Prinita Thevarajah/Al Jazeera]
Over the past six months, at least three incidents of physical violence by Israeli nationals have been reported by the locals, with police investigating them. In each incident, Israeli tourists physically attacked locals on the south coast who were known to be vocally pro-Palestinian.
Last December in Ahangama, a popular destination for young travellers, Israeli tourists approached a local family known for their work in Sri Lanka’s anti-Zionist movement, physically attacking and vandalising their property.
The same month, Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Palestinian advocacy group, found that Israeli soldier Gal Ferenbook was holidaying in Colombo. The Belgium-based foundation is named after the six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli soldiers along with her family inside a car in Gaza. Since its formation last summer, HRF has pulled together lawyers and activists from around the world to prepare cases against Israeli soldiers based on social media posts by the soldiers themselves, boasting of what they did in the war.
The HRF issued a statement, urging the Sri Lankan government to arrest Ferenbook, who had posted a video on social media in which he was seen holding the body of a Palestinian over his tank, like a trophy. As soon as the request was raised, the Israeli soldier fled Sri Lanka in December 2024, reportedly with the help of local Israeli officials.
“It is absolutely not normal for these guys who just shot a kid in the head, who raped and murdered, to get on a plane and come here to chill on the beach,” Egyptian activist Zein Rahma told Al Jazeera last month while holidaying in southern Sri Lanka, where she realised she was sharing the beach with Israeli soldiers who had returned from Gaza.
Rahma said she made it her mission to report the presence of Israeli soldiers in Sri Lanka’s tourist towns. “This is no longer a local issue, it is an international one,” she said.
Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) 2002 Rome Statute which prosecutes individuals for war crimes. However, the island nation signed the Geneva Convention in 1949, which states that war crimes are a violation of humanitarian law.
“The international law and human rights standards are very clear. If there is evidence of international crimes, that needs to be investigated and individuals held accountable,” Sri Lankan human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a question to pose to the new NPP government,” she said, referring to the governing National People’s Power alliance, headed by Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, which stormed to power in September last year.
Sri Lankan authorities have faced the question of whose side they are on multiple times since the war on Gaza began in 2023. While Sri Lanka, much like the international community, has voted against the war at the United Nations, the island is also struggling to come out of a historic economic crisis that saw the toppling of a government in 2021 and a subsequent economic bailout from lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The record financial meltdown also caused an unemployment crisis in Sri Lanka. Today, 4.7 percent of Sri Lankans are unemployed. According to the island’s labour force statistics, in September 2024, the rate was 4.1 percent, prompting the government to send nearly 20,000 citizens to work in Israel’s farming and construction sectors to make up for the shortage of Palestinian workers due to the war in Gaza. Many of these Sri Lankan workers remain in Israel today.
Meanwhile, activists like Burgess are trying to educate the locals on why seeking employment in Israel is “particularly unethical”. But with very limited economic resources locally, it is unclear whether those calls will actually stem the flow of Sri Lankan workers headed to Israel.
Protection for whom?
In October last year, the US, the United Kingdom, Australian and Russian embassies in Sri Lanka issued now withdrawn advisories, asking their citizens to avoid travelling to Arugam Bay, a Muslim-majority town, over threats to Israeli soldiers living or holidaying there.
The alleged threat led to the deployment of Sri Lankan soldiers, helicopters and tanks on the beach, ending the east coast’s surf season abruptly and leaving the locals confounded. Jeyawadane, a local, claims there were fewer than 10 Israelis in Arugam Bay when the advisory by the Western nations was issued and there was no obvious physical threat to anyone. As the season had begun on the southern coast, many Israeli tourists had instead made their way down there.
But the Sri Lankan government escalated its response to the perceived threat, dispersing security personnel throughout the country’s tourist towns and arresting three people, including a Sri Lankan national living and working in Iraq. Vijitha Herath, minister of public security and foreign affairs, said the suspects had been taken into custody.
“The bay practically emptied overnight,” Hall told Al Jazeera. His family has run an iconic hotel in Arugam Bay for over a decade.
Along with almost all of the other hotels in Arugam Bay, the hotel received cancellations for weeks from tourists visiting from around the world, even after the advisory was withdrawn. Where once Arugam Bay was a hotspot for Israeli tourists, a synagogue and Shabbat centre operating in its back streets five years ago, now the streets were empty.
A month later, in November, Sri Lankan forces secured Chabad House, a Jewish centre constructed by Israeli nationals in Colombo, while orders were given to enhance security at hotels frequented by Israeli nationals.
The deployment of soldiers for the protection of Chabad House angered many Sri Lankans, who claimed it was illegally constructed, without a mandatory government permit.
When Member of Parliament Mujibur Rahman questioned Prime Minister Harani Amarasuriya on it in parliament in December 2024, Amarasuriya acknowledged that the Chabad House and other such centres, including in Arugam Bay, were operating without permission. According to Rahman, the construction began with the permission of the previous, now-ousted government.
Now, even with a new government in place, these admittedly illegal buildings are being protected by Sri Lankan defence forces, complained Rahman. As of February 2025, police were still seen guarding the Colombo Chabad House’s entrance. “We are struggling to understand who is behind this,” he told Al Jazeera.
He also alleged that the government was aware of the presence of potential Israeli war criminals in Sri Lanka. “The problem is, there are no systems for prior screening [of soldiers],” he said.
Many Sri Lankans, including Jeyawadane, say the country’s decades-old strategic ties with Israel may have prompted the security of the Jewish centres. “It makes sense that our defence force is still in cahoots with theirs – Israel did sell us weapons during our war,” Jeyawadane explained to Al Jazeera.
During Sri Lanka’s 30-year-long civil war with Tamil rebels fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic minority community, Israel provided weapons and training to the Sri Lankan military. The civil war ended in 2009. But that relationship, critics say, was further nurtured by the powerful Rajapaksa family that dominated the island’s politics between 2005 and 2021, after which they were overthrown following a popular movement. Ironically, the Rajapaksa brothers, especially former presidents – Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, have themselves faced accusations of committing and overseeing war crimes during the civil war.
The NPP was voted to power last year by Sri Lankans fed up with years of corruption and they demanded accountability and punishment for those they believed were guilty. Many of those people are now enraged by suspected Israeli war criminals holidaying in their country.
At least four people were killed by Ukrainian drone strikes in two separate incidents in Russia’s Belgorod region, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. In one incident, a woman was killed instantly by an attack on the car she was travelling in. Three men were later killed in a similar attack.
More Ukrainian drone attacks later injured one person and damaged 12 houses in Russia’s Krasnodar region, said Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
Moscow’s Ministry of Defence said nine Ukrainian drones were shot down over the Sea of Azov and Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar.
The Ukrainian military said Russia launched 143 drones in an overnight attack, out of which 95 were shot down. A further 46 failed to reach their targets, the air force said.
At least one person was injured, and a critical infrastructure building caught fire, in southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv due to overnight Russian attacks, said the region’s Governor Vitaliy Kim. Several houses in Kyiv were also damaged, the State Emergency Service said.
A thermal power plant was damaged in the attacks on Mykolaiv, leaving tens of thousands of people without heating in below-freezing temperatures, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least 100,000 people were without power.
Ukrainian firefighters work at the site of a strike in the city of Kramatorsk on February 13, 2025 [Genya Savilov/AFP]
According to Ukraine’s military, Russian forces intensified their attacks in eastern Ukraine, mainly targeting the logistics hub of Pokrovsk. The military said it recorded 261 clashes within 24 hours.
Viktor Tregubov, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the Pokrovsk area, said Kyiv reclaimed a mining village near the city. “A number of counterattacks by Ukrainian forces have had some success,” he said, adding that they could “already talk about the liberation of the village of Pishchane”.
Moldova said two Russian drones violated the country’s airspace again, just days after the Russian ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a similar incident.
Politics and diplomacy
Zelenskyy said he had instructed his ministers not to sign an agreement with the United States to supply rare earth minerals in exchange for previous and future US aid. He told The Associated Press news agency that the agreement did not protect Ukraine’s interests.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes, without confirming the offer made to Kyiv, said Zelenskyy was being “short-sighted” about the matter and that a minerals deal would allow US taxpayers to “recoup” previous aid while also growing Ukraine’s economy.
Zelenskyy warned that Russia would “wage war” on NATO should US President Donald Trump scale back support for the military alliance. He also said Trump had the leverage to push Russian President Vladimir Putin into ceasefire talks, but said Putin should never be trusted.
Reuters reported that the US asked European allies what they required from Washington to participate in Ukraine’s security arrangements. According to the news agency, the demarche had six points and questions asking which countries would contribute to the guarantees and which allies would be willing to deploy troops to Kyiv.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the upcoming days would determine Putin’s seriousness about peace in Ukraine, adding that he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding what he described as the difficult operating conditions of the US Embassy in Moscow.
Rubio also said the process towards peace could not be completed with just one meeting and that it would not be easy. While talks have been scheduled between Russia and the US in Saudi Arabia, Rubio said he was not sure who Moscow was sending and added “nothing has been finalised yet”.
Zelenskyy said he would reject any peace agreement between the US and Russia that did not include Kyiv’s input.
Ukrainian First Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Yulia Svyrydenko said a delegation travelled to Saudi Arabia for meetings before a possible Zelenskyy visit. According to the minister, the delegation would focus on strengthening economic ties as Kyiv “prepares to sign important economic agreements with countries in the region”.
Zelenskyy announced that he arrived in the United Arab Emirates for talks on the repatriation of captured Ukrainians, investment and economic cooperation.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke on the phone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss Saudi Arabia’s role in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks and what role Europe should play.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Europeans would not support any peace process that supports the demilitarisation of Ukraine. “Ukraine must remain a democratic, sovereign nation – no decisions can be made over their heads,” he said.
Trump said he could meet with Putin “very soon” to discuss Russia’s war on Ukraine. He also said he believes the Russian and Ukrainian presidents want to see an end to fighting.
Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that the US and Russia would hold talks in Saudi Arabia over the war in Ukraine on Tuesday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was prepared to send troops to Kyiv and contribute to security guarantees if it became necessary to protect his country and Europe’s security.
The United States Department of State has dropped wording stating that Washington does not support independence for Taiwan.
The State Department latest “fact sheet” on its website about Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China, does not include the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence,” which was previously featured on the page.
The fact sheet, which was updated on Thursday, also modifies a passage about Taiwan’s inclusion in international organisations, by dropping references to “where statehood is not a requirement”, and adds that Taiwan’s dispute with China should be resolved “free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait”.
A sentence has also been added describing the Pentagon’s cooperation with Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council.
The State Department described the changes to the website as “routine” following queries from the media.
“As is routine, the fact sheet was updated to inform the general public about our unofficial relationship with Taiwan,” a spokesperson told multiple media outlets.
The spokesperson was quoted as saying that the US remains committed to its “One China Policy”, which acknowledges China’s position that there is only one Chinese government, and “preserving the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait”.
“We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We support cross-Strait dialogue, and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait,” the spokesperson said.
The American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de-facto embassy in Taipei, was unavailable for comment on Monday because it was closed in observance of Presidents’ Day in the US. The US State Department did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s queries.
Even as the US downplayed the changes, State Department was sending a message to China about its relationship with Taiwan, said Yang Kuang-shun, a co-founder of the US Taiwan Watch think tank.
“My feeling is that this is a pretty bold move, but it doesn’t mean the Trump administration will support Taiwanese independence or any kind of policy change of that nature,” Yang told Al Jazeera.
“It shows that the Trump Administration and the United States has agency or has a say in the terms of US-Taiwan and US-China relations, rather than China dictating the nature of it.”
Yang said the new wording was notable for calling out Beijing’s coercive activities towards Taiwan – including trade sanctions or grey zone activities – while also saying the dispute should be resolved in a “manner acceptable” to both sides.
Taiwan, whose formal name is the Republic of China, is a self-governed democracy, but is officially recognised by just a handful of countries, though it maintains unofficial ties with much of the international community, including the US.
Though Taipei considers itself to be a de facto independent state, it has never formally declared independence from Beijing, which has warned that doing so would lead to war.
Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, Washington is obliged to help Taiwan defend itself, but the law does not stipulate that it would necessarily intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese invasion or blockade.
Even minor changes to how US officials refer to Taiwan are closely watched by both Beijing and Taipei.
Former US President Joe Biden stated several times that the US would “defend Taiwan” from China in the event of a conflict, but his remarks were walked back each time by the US State Department.
The State Department also briefly removed a reference to Taiwanese independence from its fact sheet in May 2022, when Biden was president, but it was quickly added back just a few weeks later, Yang said.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the State Department’s “positive and friendly” updated wording as a sign of the “close and friendly Taiwan-US partnership”.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung also thanked the US for its “support and positive stance on US-Taiwan relations” and “commitment to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan-US economic, trade, and technology partnership and Taiwan’s international space”.
Lin’s remarks followed a pledge by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Friday to deepen Taiwanese investment in the US, in a move seen as a bid to keep US President Donald Trump from imposing further tariffs on Taiwanese goods.
Lai described Taiwan as an “indispensable partner” to help the US rebuild its high-tech manufacturing sector.
United States President Donald Trump has said he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” as officials from the countries prepare to meet in Saudi Arabia for talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
“There’s no time set, but it could be very soon,” Trump told reporters on Sunday ahead of talks between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.
“It’ll be soon; we’ll see what happens,” Trump added when asked if a meeting could happen this month.
Addressing reporters after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier sought to temper expectations of a swift end to the conflict, Trump expressed confidence that Putin wants to end the war.
“They have a big powerful machine, you understand that. They defeated Hitler and they defeated Napoleon. They’ve been fighting a long time,” Trump told reporters after a flight on Air Force One.
“They’ve done it before. But I think he would like to stop fighting.”
Asked if he believes Putin wants to seize all of Ukraine’s territory, Trump said he had asked his Russian counterpart the same question and it would be a “big problem for us” if so.
Earlier on Sunday, Rubio said that Putin had expressed his desire for peace in his phone call with Trump last week even as the top US diplomat cautioned that the conflict would not be resolved overnight.
“Now, obviously, it has to be followed up by action. So, the next few weeks and days will determine whether it’s serious or not,” Rubio said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation.
“Ultimately, one phone call does not make peace. One phone call does not solve a war as complex as this one.”
Rubio said the specifics of the talks, including the makeup of the Russian delegation, had not been finalised.
“I don’t have any details for you this morning, other than to say that we stand ready to follow the president’s lead on this and begin to explore ways, if those opportunities present itself, to begin a process towards peace,” Rubio said.
Trump’s outreach to Russia has raised concerns in Ukraine and Europe that Washington could be racing to secure a peace plan that concedes some Ukrainian territory with little input from Kyiv or its European allies.
Neither Ukrainian nor European officials are participating in the talks in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, though Rubio on Sunday stressed that Ukraine and Europe would both have to be involved in any “real negotiations” that result from the meeting.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press that aired on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would “never accept” any agreement reached without his country’s involvement.
“This is the war in Ukraine, against us, and it’s our human losses,” Zelenskyy said while attending the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
Addressing the Munich conference on Saturday, European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas drew parallels between the Trump administration’s approach and the failure of appeasement in the run-up to World World II.
“As I stand here in Munich tonight, I cannot help but ask, have we been here before? Czechoslovakia,1938,” Kallas said, referring to the Munich Agreement endorsing Nazi Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland in exchange for a pledge of peace.
“We have an aggressor at our door intent on taking the land that isn’t his. And the negotiators, not us, are already giving away their bargaining chips before the negotiations have even begun.”
European leaders are set to gather in Paris on Monday for an emergency summit to discuss the conflict and future security of Ukraine.
Ahead of the summit, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday that he is “ready and willing” to send British troops to Ukraine to help keep the peace in the event of a deal to end the war.
“I do not say that lightly,” Starmer said in an op-ed published in the Daily Telegraph.
“I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way.”
“But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent and the security of this country,” Starmer said.
