US to meet Ukraine again in Riyadh after talks with Russian delegation

Following a round of discussions with Russian negotiators regarding a partial ceasefire in Ukraine, United States officials are scheduled to meet with their Ukrainian counterparts once more.

After the US and Russian delegations finish their day of negotiations in Riyadh, a senior Ukrainian official confirmed to the AFP news agency that the meeting would take place later on Monday.

The main goals of the US-Russia discussions on Monday were ending the Black Sea shipping war and establishing a more comprehensive cease-fire agreement that would end the three-year Russia-Ukraine conflict.

According to Rustem Umerov, the delegation’s leader and Ukrainian Defence Minister, the discussions were already “productive,” and US officials had met with the Ukrainian team on Sunday to talk about the protection of the country’s civil and energy infrastructure.

Assed Baig, a reporter from Kyiv, claimed that Ukraine was now interested in seeing Russia reach a deal to protect Black Sea shipping, particularly “the cessation of the shelling of Ukrainian ports Odesa, Kherson, and Mykolaiv.”

The Ukrainians have been particularly concerned about that right now. Ukraine really wants its ports to be operational and running, Baig said. “They initially suggested a ceasefire on air and sea.

Russian officials and US officials were reportedly talking about the potential resumption of the 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement that was supposed to allow Ukraine to export millions of tonnes of grain and other food from its ports, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.

Moscow criticized the West for abusing its commitments to reduce sanctions on Russia’s own exports of farm produce and fertilizers and pulled out of the initiative in 2023, which was co-sponsored by Turkey and the UN.

No major development was anticipated

No one is anticipating any breakthroughs from this place. According to Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, who is a journalist in Moscow, there are no expectations for a breakthrough in Riyadh on Monday, according to Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“They are going to hammer out details of what Russia is asking for,” the statement states. According to what she said, the Russian delegation has been talking to the US official about the details of a 30-day ceasefire agreement as well as the Black Sea initiative.

The length of the negotiations, according to Oleksiy Melnyk, co-director of Ukraine’s Razumkov Center think tank’s foreign relations and international security programs, led to “more and more” requests and demands from the Russian side.

He claimed in a statement to Al Jazeera from Kyiv that there was “no possibility for direct talks” between Moscow and Kyiv and that there was “zero trust between the two sides.”

What justification does Ukraine have for engaging in such negotiations, Melnyk said, adding that the US could put more pressure on the Ukrainian government.

demands of the maximalism

A broad 30-day ceasefire that the US proposed to Russia in Saudi Arabia earlier this month is much narrower than the one that the US is focusing on.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, made the commitment to a 30-day limited ceasefire last week after making separate phone calls with US President Donald Trump. They both pledged not to attack energy infrastructure on their respective territories.

However, in recent days, one side has accused the other of attacking one particular energy source.

Despite Kyiv continuing to attack Russian energy facilities, the Kremlin stated on Monday that Russia was still adhering to the Putin-promised moratorium.

Moscow has accused Moscow of violating its own moratorium, despite the country’s claim that it would only consent to the pause if a formal agreement was signed.

Trump, however, has praised Putin’s participation in the process so far and expressed broad satisfaction with the way things have been, saying on Saturday that efforts to stop a further escalation in the conflict were “somewhat under control.”

However, the majority of European countries are skeptical about whether Putin will stick to what they perceive as his maximal demands.

Putin claims he is ready to talk about peace, but that Ukraine must formally abandon its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entire Ukrainian peninsula, which four countries have seized and are largely controlled by Russia.

continued attacks

Following Russia’s third overnight airstrike on Kyiv, which left one person injured and property damage in the area around the Ukrainian capital, talks on Monday came after the country’s discussions on Monday.

In response to a Russian missile attack on the “residential neighbourhood” of Sumy, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called on Russia to stop its attacks rather than “making hollow statements about peace.”

According to the regional governor, the attack seriously damaged a school and hospital, injuring at least 74 people, including 13 children.

On X, Sybiha stated that “any diplomacy with Moscow must be supported by firepower, sanctions, and pressure.”

Russia, on the other hand, reported that it had shot 227 Ukrainian drones during the past 24 hours as firefighters battled for a fifth day to extinguish a fire at an oil depot that had been attacked by Ukrainians last week.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Monday that Ukraine&nbsp conducted two drone strikes on Saturday at the Belgorod gas distribution station.

Additionally, it claimed that Russian air defenses had blocked the assault despite Ukrainian forces’ claims that Ukrainian forces had made an attempt on Sunday to attack the Glebovskoye gas condensate field in Crimea.

Source: Aljazeera