Ukraine, Russia confirm talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia next week

Talks on a United States proposal for a partial ceasefire in Ukraine are set to resume on Monday in Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian and Russian officials have confirmed.

Speaking at a news conference in Oslo on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the structure of the meetings scheduled for Monday would see US officials meeting with Ukrainian experts and then holding separate talks with Russian representatives.

“There will be a meeting of Ukraine and America and then some shuttle diplomacy, as our American colleagues said, America with Russia,” he told reporters after a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

Yuri Ushakov, a top foreign policy aide to President Vladimir Putin, confirmed that bilateral talks between Russian and US officials would be taking place on Monday in Riyadh, adding they would focus on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea.

Russia will be represented by Grigory Karasin, a former diplomat who now chairs the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Sergei Beseda, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke by telephone on Tuesday, they had discussed the “Black Sea Initiative”.

Following the call, the White House had issued a statement saying the leaders agreed to technical negotiations on the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, a full ceasefire and permanent peace.