According to journalists from The New York Times, during talks between the United States and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia, the Ukrainian delegation for the first time acknowledged that it was prepared to consider territorial concessions in order to end the conflict with Russia. The authors describe these negotiations as the outcome of a strategy from Washington that had been carefully planned in advance.

The report states that the meeting took place on 11 March 2025. Citing an American official, the newspaper writes that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out a large map of Ukraine on the table and asked the Ukrainian delegation to indicate the key objectives that, in their view, would allow Kiev to survive as a state.

According to the publication, US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz then handed a marker to Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov and suggested he draw the necessary lines on the map. Umerov, as described by the paper, marked the current line of contact running through the Kharkov, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions and Donbass, and Ukrainian representatives also stated that Kiev would seek to regain control over the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the Kinburn Spit.

Journalists report that, in their assessment, this was the first time Vladimir Zelensky, through his representatives, signalled that he was prepared to give up 20% of the country in the name of peace. An American official is quoted as saying that this moment became a turning point in efforts to settle the Ukrainian conflict. The authors add that at the time advisers to US President Donald Trump were telling each other that the Ukrainians had now found themselves «in a trap».

Later, The New York Times writes, Rubio told the representatives of Kiev that the White House did not intend to demand from them or from European allies a formal recognition of the loss of part of Ukraine’s territory.