Russia criticizes the talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the war in Ukraine after Moscow not invited

KYIV, Ukraine -- Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday chided efforts by international officials meeting in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement for the war in Ukraine, saying the talks don't have “the slightest added value” because Moscow — unlike Kyiv — wasn’t invited.

Senior officials from around 40 countries gathered Sunday in Jeddah for a two-day meeting that aims to agree on key principles about how to end the coNFLict that has raged for more than 17 months.

But without Russia’s participation and without taking into account Moscow’s interests, the meeting was pointless, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said. It repeated previous assurances that Russia is open to a diplomatic solution on its terms that ends the war and that it is ready to respond to serious proposals.

But Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, ruled out Moscow’s previous demands that would give Russia time to dig in deeper in the parts of Ukraine it has occupied.

He said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Russian forces must fully withdraw from the occupied areas and there would be no Kyiv compromise on that.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Security Service announced Monday it had detained an alleged Russian informant who gathered intelligence about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to the southern Mykolaiv region last month.

It claimed the woman “was collecting data for an airstrike during Zelenskyy’s visit.”

The woman attempted to establish Zelenskyy’s route, times and visits in the region. She was detained when she tried to pass the information to the Russians, the statement said, without providing evidence.

Zelenskyy has been a prime target for the Kremlin since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, when he refused to leave Kyiv as Moscow’s forces approached.

He has been one of Ukraine’s unexpected trump cards in the war, playing a key role in rallying public morale, including a nightly video address, and becoming a recognizable face across the world as he presses allies and others to help Ukraine.

Also Monday, two Russian missiles hit the center of Pokrovsk, a city in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the partially occupied Donetsk region in the east of the country. Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said the strikes damaged two residential buildings and other civilian structures. According to Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, the attack killed five civilians and wounded 18 others.

Commenting on the attack, Zelenskyy charged that Russia is trying to leave “only broken and scorched stones" in eastern Ukraine. “We have to stop the Russian terror. Everyone who fights for the freedom of Ukraine saves lives,” Ukraine's president said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Russian shelling struck a nine-story residential building in the city of Kherson, killing one person and wounding four others, according to regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. He said Kherson had endured a “tough night” as the Russians “covered the central part of the city with fire.”

A 57-year-old woman was killed and four people were wounded in the Russian shelling of a village in the northeastern Kharkiv province, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.

___

Jim Heintz reported from Tallinn, Estonia.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine