An American delegation will meet with Russian officials – Monday – in the Saudi capital to hold talks aimed at making progress towards a ceasefire in the Black Sea and ending the war in Ukraine, after discussions by the American delegation with diplomats from Ukraine yesterday. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustam Amrouf described these talks as “fruitful and purposeful” and focused on discussing the energy sector.
A source familiar with the American plans towards the talks stated that the American delegation is led by Andrew Beck, the European Security Council official, and Michael Anton, chief policy planning employee in the foreign affairs.
The two American diplomats met with officials from Ukraine yesterday, and they intend to meet with the Russians today.
The White House says the goal of these talks is to reach a ceasefire in the Black Sea, to allow the freedom of navigation to be allowed.
The US National Security Adviser at the White House Mike Waltz said – in an interview with “CBS” channel yesterday – that the meetings between American, Russian and Ukrainian delegations are held in the same place in Riyadh.
Waltz added that the discussions will include, in addition to the ceasefire in the Black Sea “control line” between the two countries, which includes “measures to verify, preserve peace and fix the borders as they are.”
He also said that “confidence -building measures” were being discussed, including “the return of Ukrainian children who were kidnapped by Russia.”
The spokesperson for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov has taken the initiative to reduce the ceiling of expectations associated with the upcoming conversations, saying to Russian TV yesterday, “This is a very complex topic and requires a lot of work.”
“We are only at the beginning of this path,” Peskov added.
In an indication of the discrepancies of views, the Ukrainian delegation is headed by the Minister of Defense, while Putin decided to send the minimum envoys of the rank of Senator, former diplomat and official in the Internal Security Service.
Russia will represent Gregory Karasin, a former diplomat who is currently head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council, and Sergey Besida, advisor to the head of the Federal Security Agency.
Ukrainian American discussion
The Ukrainian Minister of Defense announced yesterday evening that the tour of the talks – which was held with American officials in Riyadh about an end to the war with Russia – was “fruitful and concentrated”.
“We concluded our meeting with the American team. The discussion was fruitful and center, and we have influenced major points, including energy,” Omar said in a post on the communication sites.
The minister, who heads his country’s delegation – in a post on Facebook – indicated that the Ukrainian -American talks included proposals to protect energy and biological infrastructure facilities.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Folodimir Zellinski demanded yesterday in a message on the communication sites to “pay” his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to “issue an actual order to stop the strikes.”
He continued, “Whoever starts this war must end it,” he added, “It is clear to everyone that Russia is the only one to extend this war.”
Zelinski said that “without pressure on Russia, they will continue in Moscow to ignore real diplomacy and destroy people’s lives.”
For his part, Steve Witkev, the delegate of the US President, showed optimism on Sunday, saying that he expected “real progress” during these talks.
The US President said yesterday that the efforts made to stop more escalation in the Ukrainian -Russian conflict “are somewhat control.”
Washington hopes to reach a comprehensive ceasefire within weeks, and aims to achieve a truce by April 20, according to the Bloomberg website yesterday, quoting informed sources.
Daily battles
In parallel with diplomatic efforts, the Ukrainian army announced yesterday that it had recovered a small village in the eastern Logansk region, in a rare progress for its forces in the region that Russia has almost completely controlled since 2022.
The Russian army – which is making great field progress – announced the control of the town of Sribneh in the Ukrainian East.
On Saturday night, the capital Kiev was “intense” Russian attack by the conducts, according to the local authorities.
In the wake of this new bombing, Ukrainian President urged his allies to exert “pressure” on Moscow in order to “put an end” of the conflict, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andre Sigga denounced the Russian “systematic terrorism” that “undermines peace efforts.”
Ukraine is seeking in response to the strikes – which have been targeting its lands daily for more than 3 years – to destabilize the logistical chain of the Russian army by targeting military sites or energy facilities directly on Russian soil.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 59 Ukrainian officials were repelled on Saturday night.
In the Russian Rostov region (southwest), a person was killed in a blow to his car, according to Russian regional ruler Yuri Slosar.
(Tagstotranslate) News (T) Asia (T) Europe (T) Ukraine (T) the American (T) (T) (T) the United States of America (T) Russia (T) Arabic)