US, Russia wrap up talks on proposed Black Sea ceasefire
Representatives from the United States and Russia concluded negotiations on the war in Ukraine in Saudi Arabia, a day after talks between Washington and Kyiv. Moscow clarified that it would not sign any documents at the end of the meeting, which lasted more than 12 hours in the capital, Riyadh.
"No. There are no plans to sign any documents," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
The Russian delegation was led by Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council's Committee on International Affairs, and Sergei Beseda, advisor to the director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
The U.S. delegation included State Department Director of Policy Planning Michael Anton, as well as advisors to Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
U.S. negotiators worked on a proposal for a partial ceasefire in the war in Ukraine on Monday, meeting with Russian representatives a day after holding separate talks with a team from Kyiv. Even a limited 30-day ceasefire, which Moscow and kyiv agreed to in principle last week, has been difficult to achieve, with both sides continuing their mutual drone and missile attacks.
A major point of disagreement is which targets would be excluded from the strikes, even after US President Donald Trump spoke with the countries' leaders, as the parties disagree.
While the White House indicated that "energy and infrastructure" would be covered, the Kremlin stated that the agreement referred more specifically to "energy infrastructure." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would also like to see infrastructure such as railways and ports protected.
For his part, Serhii Leshchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, said the delegation remained in Riyadh on Monday and hoped to meet again with the Americans.
Grigory Karasin, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian upper house of parliament and a participant in Monday's talks, told the Interfax news agency that the negotiations were proceeding "creatively" and that the U.S. and Russian delegations "understand each other's points of view."
Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine continued to launch attacks across their borders.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported Monday that a Ukrainian drone attacked an oil pumping station in southern Russia that serves a pipeline transporting Caspian Sea oil from Kazakhstan to the Russian port of Novorossiisk for export. He said the drone was shot down before it could reach the pumping station.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the Russian military has been carrying out President Vladimir Putin's order to halt attacks on energy facilities for 30 days. He has accused Ukraine of derailing the ceasefire with attacks on Russian energy facilities, including a gas metering station in Sudzha, in Russia's Kursk region.
The Ukrainian Army General Staff rejected Moscow's accusations and accused the Russian military of shelling the station, a claim Peskov called "absurd."
Zelensky declared on Sunday night that "since March 11, a proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table, and these attacks could have already stopped. But it is Russia that continues all this."
He added that Ukraine's partners, "the United States, Europe, and others around the world," should increase pressure on Russia "to stop this terror."
Zelensky has emphasized that Ukraine is open to Trump's proposal for a 30-day comprehensive ceasefire. Putin has conditioned a comprehensive ceasefire on halting arms supplies to Ukraine and suspending military mobilization there, demands rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said he expected "real progress" in the talks and that a pause in hostilities between the two countries in the Black Sea would "naturally gravitate toward a complete ceasefire."