Ukraine updates: Russia and US discuss ceasefire

US and Russian officials concluded talks in Saudi Arabia without indicating whether they could reach an agreement on a truce in the Black Sea, which is viewed as a potential step toward securing a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Ukraine's delegation met with their American counterparts on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump believes both sides ultimately want the war in Ukraine to be settled.

Monday's talks focused on reaching a Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal.

A Russian source told the Reuters news agency that a draft joint statement was sent to Moscow and Washington for approval, with the parties aiming to release it on Tuesday.

Earlier, Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudik, who leads the Holos Party, told DW, "Russia needs the ceasefire deal in the Black Sea more than Ukraine does, because we are pretty strong in the Black Sea."

She said Trump would have to apply pressure on Moscow, as he did with Ukraine, to ensure they ultimately agree to a ceasefire.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that a Russian strike in the Ukrainian city of Sumy had injured civilians, "including many children."

"Moscow speaks of peace while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities," Sybiha said in a post on social media on Monday.

"Instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians," he said.

Russia has been in talks with the US about a possible ceasefire, but Sybiha said that any diplomacy with Moscow "must be backed up by firepower, sanctions, and pressure."

A source close to Ukraine's leadership says it is expecting to meet US officials later on Monday to continue discussing a potential ceasefire, after the round of talks between negotiators from Russia and the United States.

"We are so far waiting for the outcome of the meeting between the United States and Russia. Based on that, we will have another meeting with the United States," a senior Ukrainian official told several media outlets., including AFP, on condition of anonymity. 

Russia and the United States are seeking to resume a deal to ensure the safety of merchant shipping in the Black Sea, the Kremlin says, noting that what it saw as key parts of an earlier agreement on the subject were never implemented.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the "Black Sea Initiative", more commonly known as the grain deal, was on the agenda in Saudi Arabia.

He said that US President Donald Trump had proposed discussing the Black Sea deal and that Putin had agreed to discuss it.

"This is primarily about the safety of navigation," Peskov said, when asked what the Black Sea deal amounted to.

"But if you remember the initiative in its previous form, there was quite a large part of the obligations to our country that were not fulfilled last time. Therefore, this will also be on the agenda today."

Turkey and the United Nations helped broker the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative, with a deal reached in July 2022 that allowed nearly 33 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain to be exported safely across the Black Sea despite the war.

Count

Russia withdrew from the agreement in 2023, complaining  that its own food and fertilizer exports faced serious obstacles.

While Russia is not currently facing serious problems getting its grain to market by the Black Sea, Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

A three-year memorandum of understanding was struck in July 2022 that saw UN officials agree to help Russia get its food and fertilizer exports to foreign markets.

The Kremlin says Russia and the United States had a common understanding on moving toward a settlement to end the war in Ukraine, as negotiators continue to talk during a sit-down in Saudi Arabia.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were still many different aspects that need to be ironed out.

Peskov said the negotiations were focused on technical issues, including the Black Sea Initiative, which had been known as the "grain deal," that late 2022 had allowed for the safe passage of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea.

"This is primarily about the safety of navigation," Peskov said, when asked Monday about the initiative. 

He also said Moscow was looking at its moratorium on attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, as Ukrainian drones continue to target Russian oil facilities. 

Last week, a drone attack blamed on Ukraine set fire to an oil depot Russia's southern Krasnodar region.

"So far, there have been no other orders from the president," Peskov said when asked if Russia intended to maintain its moratorium or not.

"Our armed forces are following all instructions of the supreme commander-in-chief, but of course we are monitoring the situation very closely. Our American interlocutors are also able to monitor the situation and draw the appropriate conclusions."

Despite claims from Moscow it is holding off on targeting Ukraine's energy, Russia continues to fire drone sorties at Ukrainian cities nearly every night. An attack on Kyiv Sunday morning killed at least seven people, including a child. 

Ukraine has accused Russia of not adhering to the moratorium, and has said a formal document would need to be signed before it suspends its own attacks.

Talks between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on a possible ceasefire in the three-year Ukraine war have begun, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

Negotiations at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh started a day after US officials held meetings with a Ukrainian delegation in the city.

The US delegation includes multiple teams, with both US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz present.

Russia is represented Sergei Beseda, a veteran of Russia's FSB security service and a former long-serving diplomat who is said to have been closely involved in preparations for Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Also speaking for Moscow is Grigory Karasi, a career diplomat whose past roles include deputy foreign minister and ambassador to Britain.

Talks between the US and Ukrainian team, led by defense minister Rustem Umerov, finished up late Sunday night.

"The discussion was productive and focused — we addressed key points including energy," Umerov said on social media.

The Ukrainian state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia says it has been targeted by a large-scale cyberattack.

Ukrzaliznytsia said its online services were not working due to a technical failure, the company said on Sunday, providing no additional details.

The company said train traffic has been stable and running without delays and that work to restore the online systems has been going on for the past day.

The railway said it would sell tickets offline on Monday before back-ups are restored after what it called a "systemic, non-trivial and multi-level" attack.

Since the Russian invasion in 2022 and the closure of airspace over Ukraine, trains have become the main mode of transportation for domestic and international passengers.

The railways carried some 20 million passengers and 148 million tonnes of freight last year.

The outage was first reported on Sunday when Ukrzaliznytsia told passengers to buy tickets on-site or on trains.

Talks between the US and Russian representatives on making progress towards a ceasefire in Ukraine kicked off on Monday morning in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  

Ukrainian and US representatives met Sunday ahead of the talks. Ukraine has previously reaffirmed its willingness to agree to a 30-day ceasefire and says it wants to clarify the technical details.

The initial focus will be on a ceasefire limited to energy facilities, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasizing that civilian infrastructure should be included.

After a telephone call between Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Moscow emphasized that a ceasefire for air strikes against energy facilities was already in effect on the Russian side. Putin had reportedly ordered this after a conversation last Tuesday.

However, attacks on alleged military targets in Ukraine with drones and glide bombs continue. Russia says that further talks — on its own terms — are needed to end these strikes.

Moscow expects the talks in Riyadh to also specifically address an initiative for safe navigation in the Black Sea, and a US proposal for a ceasefire for the waters is being discussed.

Russia had terminated an earlier agreement brokered by Turkey, which was intended to enable the safe transport of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. Ukraine wants security guarantees, especially after the strategically important port of Odesa has been repeatedly shelled by the Russians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of prolonging the war after representatives from Kyiv and Washington gathered in Saudi Arabia.

"Russia is the only one dragging this war out," Zelenskyy said in his evening video message after the latest round of negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

"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 said, referring to a series of Russian drone attacks in recent days. 

Kyiv agreed earlier this month to a 30-day ceasefire plan proposed by the United States if Moscow also complied. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has set several preconditions, including a demand that the West stop all military aid to Kyiv.

"Without pressure on Russia, those in Moscow will continue to show contempt for real diplomacy and keep destroying lives," Zelenskyy said. 

The Ukrainian air force has said it shot down 57 drones out of 99 launched by Russia overnight into Monday.

Another 36 imitator drones did not reach their targets, the air force said, without specifying what happened to the remaining six drones.

Meanwhile. Russia's air defense units said they had intercepted and destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones overnight.

The Russian Defense Ministry said units had downed 12 drones over the border Kursk region and another 12 over the Rostov region. 

Another four were destroyed over Crimea, the Krasnodar region and the waters of the Sea of Azov, the ministry added.

On Sunday, seven people were killed in a Russian drone barrage on Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv. Authorities said a five-year-old child was among those killed.

Russia launched 147 drones across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The majority were intercepted.

Today, we are reporting on US and Russian delegations sitting down in Saudi Arabia for talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine. The White House has said one of its preliminary aims is to reach a ceasefire in the Black Sea.

The talks come after a Russian drone barrage targeted several cities including Kyiv killed seven people on Sunday.