US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia yesterday to discuss a partial ceasefire in Ukraine, a day after US-Ukraine talks there and as US President Donald Trump pushes to quickly end the war.
The US and Russian teams huddled behind closed doors at a luxurious hotel in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, with a possible revival of a 2022 Black Sea ceasefire on the table.
The Ukrainian team, which held talks with US officials in the same venue on Sunday, was expecting a second meeting with the US yesterday, a source in Kyiv said, a sign that progress might have been made.
Photo: Reuters
Trump is pressing for a rapid end to the three-year war and hopes the latest round of talks in Riyadh could pave the way for a breakthrough.
Earlier this month in Jeddah — days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s White House dressing-down by Trump — Ukraine agreed to a US-proposed, 30-day ceasefire that was then rejected by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Officials are now studying a possible resumption of the Black Sea Initiative, a year-long agreement that allowed millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports to be shipped from Ukraine’s ports.
“The issue of the Black Sea Initiative and all aspects related to the renewal of this initiative is on the agenda today,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “This was President Trump’s proposal and President Putin agreed to it. It was with this mandate that our delegation traveled to Riyadh.”
The US team is being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and senior US Department of State official Michael Anton, a source familiar with the matter said.
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, who heads the Ukrainian team, said the first round of talks that finished late on Sunday was “productive and focused.”
“We addressed key points including energy,” Umerov wrote on social media.
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