Following talks with Ukrainian diplomats on Sunday, the US delegation will meet with Russian officials on Monday, the 24th of March, to make progress on the Black Sea ceasefire and a broader cessation of hostilities in Ukraine. The so-called technical talks come at a time when US President Donald Trump is intensifying his efforts to halt Russia’s three-year assault on Ukraine. Last week, he spoke with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Reuters.
Trump said on Saturday that efforts to stop further escalation of the Ukraine-Russia war were “somewhat under control”.
A source familiar with the planning of the talks said the US side was led by Andrew Peek, senior director of the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official.
They met with the Ukrainians on Sunday evening and plan to meet with the Russians on Monday.
Russia will be represented by former diplomat Grigory Karasin, who is now Chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sergei Beseda, Adviser to the Director of the Federal Security Service.
THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS THE TALKS ARE AIMED AT REACHING A CEASEFIRE IN THE BLACK SEA THAT WOULD ALLOW FREE SHIPPING.
White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told CBS on Sunday that the US, Russian and Ukrainian delegations were to gather in the same building in Riyadh. He said the US was discussing a series of confidence-building measures aimed at ending the war, including the future of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
Asked about the aims of the broader talks, Waltz said that once a ceasefire was agreed in the Black Sea, “we will talk about the line of control, which are the actual front lines”.
“And that includes details on verification mechanisms, peacekeeping, freezing the line where it is,” Waltz said. “And then, of course, about a broader and permanent peace.”
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, head of the Ukrainian delegation, said on Facebook that the US-Ukraine talks included proposals on the protection of energy facilities and critical infrastructure.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who met Putin in Moscow in early March, allayed NATO allies’ fears that the deal could embolden Moscow to invade other neighbouring countries.
“I just don’t see him wanting to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than during the Second World War,” Witkoff told Fox News.
“I think he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) wants peace.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s delegation worked “in a completely constructive manner” during Sunday’s talks, adding: “The talks are quite useful, the work of the delegations continues.”
“BUT WHATEVER WE SAY TO OUR PARTNERS TODAY, WE HAVE TO GET PUTIN TO GIVE A REAL ORDER TO STOP THE STRIKES.” SAID ZELENSKYY.
The Ukrainian delegation was led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, who said the purpose of such contacts was to help “bring about a just peace and strengthen security”, although Zelenskyy also said Sunday’s talks were essentially “technical”.
Last week, Putin agreed to Trump’s suggestion that Russia and Ukraine stop attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days, but this narrowly defined ceasefire soon lost credibility as both sides reported that the attacks were continuing.
Overnight on Sunday, a large-scale Russian drone strike in Kyiv killed at least three people, including a five-year-old child, and caused fires in high-rise apartment buildings and destruction across the capital, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities said on Sunday that their air defences had destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones targeting the country’s south-western regions, adding that one person had been killed in the strikes in Rostov.
Zelenskyy, faced with the continued advance of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, has backed Trump’s call for a general 30-day ceasefire.
The US hopes to reach a broad ceasefire within weeks, planning to conclude a truce agreement by the 20th of April, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the planning.