US and Russian negotiators launch ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia
Russian news reports said the negotiations over a partial ceasefire in Ukraine had begun in Riyadh.
US and Russian negotiators sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine, hours after a round of negotiations between US and Ukrainian negotiators, Russian news reports said.
The state Tass and Ria-Novosti news agencies said the negotiations began in Riyadh.
The meeting is expected to be followed by another contact between US and Ukrainian teams.
The separate meetings are set to discuss details of a pause in long-range attacks against energy facilities and civilian infrastructure and a halt on attacks in the Black Sea to ensure safe commercial shipping.
Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle on Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after US President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders, but the parties have offered different views of what targets would be off-limits to attack.
While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.
Russia launched a barrage of drones across Ukraine overnight into Sunday that killed at least seven people, including a father and his five-year-old daughter in Kyiv.
“There must be more pressure on Russia to stop this terror,” Mr Zelensky said in a statement, adding that it “depends on all our partners — the US, Europe, and others around the world”.
Mr Zelensky has emphasised that Ukraine is open to a full, 30-day ceasefire that Mr Trump has proposed, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine’s military mobilisation — demands rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mr Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said he expected “some real progress” at the talks in Saudi Arabia, “particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries, and from that you’ll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire”.
As for Sunday talks in Riyadh between Ukrainian and US representatives, Mr Zelensky said they had been conducted on a more “technical level” compared to similar meetings last week, this time involving representatives from Ukraine’s military, energy ministry and diplomatic corps.
“Our team is working in a fully constructive manner, and the discussion is quite useful. The work of the delegations continues,” Mr Zelensky said.
“But no matter what we’re discussing with our partners right now, Putin must be pushed to issue a real order to stop the strikes, because the one who brought this war must be the one to take it back.”
