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Riyadh talks and strikes: Ukraine before 20 February 2025
Summary
A look back at the days around 20 February 2025, when US–Russia talks excluded Kyiv and Russian strikes continued.
What did the war in Ukraine look like on 20 February 2025? It was a moment when diplomacy was moving without Kyiv, while Russian missiles and drones kept hitting Ukrainian cities.
On 18 February, the United States and Russia began talks in Saudi Arabia about the war, with no European or Ukrainian participation. The delegations agreed to start a negotiating process for ending the war, to create high-level teams, and to normalise diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries.
On 19 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the Riyadh talks as a "first step" towards restoring full diplomatic ties with the United States.
Washington's tone towards Kyiv
Also on 19 February, relations between Washington and Kyiv were described as deteriorating. US President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator", said he had done a "terrible job", and warned that Zelenskyy was "not going to have a country left" soon.
Strikes continue
The fighting did not pause during the diplomacy. On 19 February, Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine killed at least one person and injured 14 others. Among them was a large drone attack on energy infrastructure in Odesa, which left 160,000 residents without heating and electricity.
The sequence of 18 and 19 February set the backdrop for 20 February 2025: a negotiating track between Washington and Moscow that Ukraine and European governments were not part of, public criticism of Ukraine's president from the US president, and continuing attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure.
