Delegations from the United States and Ukraine have been holding talks in Saudi Arabia as part of peace negotiations brokered by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, representing Ukraine in Riyadh, said “productive” talks had concluded late Sunday.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised statement, “Our team is working in a completely constructive manner. The conversation is quite useful; the work of the delegations is continuing.”
“But no matter what we say to our partners today, we need to get [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes. Whoever brought this war must take it back,” he said.
Umerov said at the beginning of the talks that the two parties were discussing the protection of energy sites and critical infrastructure from attacks. What a partial truce would actually cover has been contentious, with Moscow and Kyiv stating differing parameters.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Sunday expressed optimism ahead of these high-stakes talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war, telling Fox News he believed Putin wanted peace. “I just don’t see that he wants to take all of Europe,” Witkoff added.
The Russian and US delegations will meet separately in Riyadh on Monday.
In the meantime, at least seven people have been killed in overnight Russian drone attacks in Ukraine, as Zelenskyy urged his Western allies to put more pressure on Moscow to cease its attacks on the country in advance of the peace talks.
Three people, including a five-year-old child, were killed and 10 were injured in a drone attack on the capital Kyiv, the city’s military administration said on Sunday.
Elsewhere, four people were killed in Russian attacks in the Donetsk region, regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said, including three who died in an attack on the front-line Ukrainian town of Dobropillya.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 147 drones overnight, sending them to several Ukrainian regions. The Air Force said 97 of the drones were shot down, and 25 did not reach their targets.
In a statement on social media, Zelenskyy said attacks such as the one in Kyiv were a daily occurrence for Ukraine.
“This week alone, more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs, almost 1,100 strike drones and 15 missiles of various types were used against our people,” he said. “New solutions are needed, with new pressure on Moscow to stop both these strikes and this war.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces “destroyed and intercepted” 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, centred over the regions of Rostov and Astrakhan.
‘Difficult negotiations’
On Saturday night, Trump said efforts to stop further escalation in the war were “somewhat under control”.
The US president told Clay Travis, the founder of sports website Outkick, during an interview on Air Force One that “rational discussions” and having good relationships with Putin and Zelenskyy were key to negotiating the war’s end.
Last week, Trump had separate discussions with Putin and Zelenskyy aimed at ending the war that began in 2022. They came weeks after Trump and his Vice President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy at the White House.
However, while the talks fell short of Trump’s aim to secure a complete 30-day ceasefire, Putin did agree to stop Russian attacks on energy infrastructure for the period, which Zelenskyy accepted. Yet, since agreeing, both sides have accused each other of targeting energy sites.
The Kremlin on Sunday downplayed expectations for a rapid resolution to the Ukraine conflict, saying talks were just beginning and that “difficult negotiations” were ahead.
“We are only at the beginning of this path,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV.
He said Russia’s “main” focus in its talks with the US would be discussing a possible resumption of a 2022 grain deal that ensured safe navigation for Ukrainian agricultural exports in the Black Sea.
Moscow pulled out of the deal – brokered by Turkiye and the United Nations – in 2023, accusing the West of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia’s own exports of agricultural products and fertilisers.
Earlier, Senator Grigory Karasin, leading the Russian delegation, told the Zvezda TV channel owned by the Defence Ministry that they “hope to achieve at least some progress” in the meeting.
Karasin said he and his fellow negotiator, Sergey Beseda of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), would approach the talks in a “combative and constructive” mood.
“We are going with the mood to fight for the solution of at least one issue,” Karasin told Zvezda.
