THE Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed an Ukrainian-sponsored international peace meeting being held in Saudi Arabia today as not having the “slightest added value.”

Senior officials from about 40 countries gathered on Sunday in the port city of Jeddah, saying that their aim was to find a peaceful settlement to end the war in Ukraine.

The organisers of the two-day meeting said its aim was to agree on the key principles that might form the basis for an agreement with Russia to end the conflict, which has raged for more than 17 months.

But no invitation to the meeting was extended to the Russian government, making it difficult to see what could be achieved, other than restating positions previously announced by the Ukrainian authorities.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said that without Moscow’s participation, the meeting was entirely pointless and did not provide “the slightest added value.”

The statement went on to reiterate the Kremlin’s willingness to find a diplomatic solution to end the war, adding that it was ready to respond to any serious peace proposals.

But Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, rejected Moscow's previous demands, say that agreeing to them would give Russian forces time to dig in deeper in the parts of Ukraine they have occupied.

Posting on social media site X, Mr Podolyak insisted that Russian forces must fully withdraw from the occupied areas and that Kiev would not compromise on that.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Security Service claimed to have detained an alleged Russian informant who had gathered intelligence about President Zelensky’s trip to the southern Mykolaiv region last month.

It alleged that the woman “was collecting data for an air strike during Mr Zelensky’s visit.”

The woman attempted to establish the president’s route, times and visits in the region. 

The Ukrainians claimed, without providing evidence, that the woman was detained when she tried to pass the information to the Russians.