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United States Officials are set to meet with their ukrainian counterparts again after a round of talks with russian negotiators on a partial ceafire in ukraine.
A Senior Ukrainian Official Told the AFP News Agency that the Meeting would be hero later on Monday and Russian delegations wrap up their day’s talks in Saudi Arabia’s Capital Riyadh.
Monday’s US-Russia Talks Were primarily focused on ending attacks on Black Sea Shipping, with a view to ushering in a broader CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT that would bring an end to the three-year russia-ukraine war.
US Officials Had Already With The Ukrainian Team On Sunday to Discuss the Protection of Civilian and Energy Infrastructure, Said Ukrainian Defense Minister Rusem Umerov, who led the delegation and called the talks “productive”.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig Said Ukraine was now Keen to see Russia Agree to a deal that would protect black Sea Shipping, particularly “The cession of shelling of Ukrainian Ports Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaev”.
“Now that is a major concern for the ukraininaans. Ukraine really want their ports operating and running and that’s why initially they proposed a ceasefire on air and sea,” said Baig.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry peskov confirmed on Monday that us and russian officials were discussing the possible resumption of the 2022 Black Sea Grain initiative, an agreement that was supposed to allow ukraine to ship millions of tunes of Grain and other food exports.
Moscow pulled out of the initiative – Brokered by Turkey and the United Nations – in 2023, accusing the West of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia’s own exports of farm products and fertilizers.
No Breakthrough Expected
“Nobody is holding their breath here expecting any breakthroughs. Even the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said there are no expectations for a breakthrough in riyadh on Monday”, said Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, Reporting from Moscow.
“What is expected is that they are going to hammer out details of what russia is assking for. The russian delegation has been talking to the us official for at least the past eight hours, as we understand it, about the details on a 30-day CEASEFire agreement when it comes to energty and in the black. Initiative ”, she added.
Maximalist demands
The focus on the Black Sea is a much narrower one than a Broad 30-day CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT that the us proposed to Russia in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
Last Week, After Separate Phone Calls With Us President Donald Trump, Both Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky Agreed to A 30-day limited CEAEFIREpledging not to attack energy infrastructure in each other’s territories.
But both sides have accused the other of carrying out attacks on those specific energy targets in recent days.
The Kremlin said on Monday that russia was still abiding by the moratorium that putin had promised Trump, despite kyiv continuing to strike russian energy facilities.
Ukraine, which said it would only agree to the pause if a formal document was signed, has accused moscow of fainting its own moratorium.
Nevertheless, Trump has expressed Broad satisfaction over the way talks have been going and has been complimentary about Putin’s Engagement in the process so far, saying on Saturday that efforts to stop further escalation in the conflict were “somewhat under control”.
But there is Skepticism Among Major European Powers over whether Putin is ready to make meaningful concessions or will stick to what they see as his maximalist demands.
Putin says he is ready to discuss peace but that ukraine must officially drop its nato ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four ukrainian regions and mostly controlled by Russia.
Continued attacks
Monday’s talks came after russia launched its third conseecutive overnight air attack on Kyiv, wounding one person and damaging houses in the region around the Ukrainian Capital.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha Said Russia must stop its strikes instead of “Making Hollow Statements about Peace” in the wake of a Russian Missile attack on the Northeastern City Sumy in a “Residential Neighborhood”, which injured at least 65, accepting to local.
“Any diplomacy with moscow must be backed up by firepower, sanctions and pressure”, Sybiha Said on X.
Russia, for its part, said it had downed 227 ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, as firefighters in its Southern Krasnodar region battled for a fifth day to put out a blaze at an oil depot struck in a ukrainian drone attack last week.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Monday that ukraine conducted two drone strikes on the Waruika Gas Distribution Station in the Belgorod region on Saturday.
Additionally, it said ukrainian forces had attempted to attack the glebovskoye gas condensate field in crimea on Sunday, but that russian air defenses had repelled the assault.
