Talks on a United States proposal for a partial ceasefire in Ukraine are set to resume on Monday in Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian and Russian officials have confirmed.
Speaking at a news conference in Oslo on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the structure of the meetings scheduled for Monday would see US officials meeting with Ukrainian experts and then holding separate talks with Russian representatives.
“There will be a meeting of Ukraine and America and then some shuttle diplomacy, as our American colleagues said, America with Russia,” he told reporters after a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
Yuri Ushakov, a top foreign policy aide to President Vladimir Putin, confirmed that bilateral talks between Russian and US officials would be taking place on Monday in Riyadh, adding they would focus on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea.
Russia will be represented by Grigory Karasin, a former diplomat who now chairs the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Sergei Beseda, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke by telephone on Tuesday, they had discussed the “Black Sea Initiative”.
Following the call, the White House had issued a statement saying the leaders agreed to technical negotiations on the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, a full ceasefire and permanent peace.
Limited ceasefire
Following separate phone calls with US President Donald Trump this week, the Ukrainian and Russian leaders both agreed in principle to a pause in attacks on energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that although he originally had sought a broader ceasefire, he was committed to working with the US to stop arms being directed at power production and civilian facilities.
The previous day, he had signalled that he intended to include not only energy targets, but also rail and port infrastructure in a list of facilities he would want to see included in the partial ceasefire.
On Thursday, he stated he would not discuss potential US ownership of Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with Trump, after US officials said Washington could take over.
The plant, caught in the crossfire since Moscow seized it after invading Ukraine in 2022, is a significant asset, producing nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity in the year before the war.
Asked about reports that Trump was considering recognising Russian-occupied Crimea as part of Russia, Zelenskyy said the US president had not raised the issue with him during their call.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said Crimea, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based, is formally part of Russia. The Black Sea peninsula is internationally recognised as Ukrainian territory by most countries.
Peacekeeping talks
In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting of Western military officials on Thursday to flesh out plans for an international peacekeeping force for Ukraine as details of a partial ceasefire are worked out.
Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, co-leaders of efforts to form the so-called “coalition of the willing”, have said they are willing to deploy peacekeepers in Ukraine following any full ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv – an idea Russia has vehemently rejected.
Macron has also said he would open a discussion on extending France’s nuclear umbrella to the entire European Union.
Russia’s Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Security Council, said on Thursday that such statements “reflect the anti-Russian sentiment that reigns in Europe today”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Europe of turning into a “war party”.
“For the most part, the signals from Brussels and European capitals concern plans to militarise Europe,” he said.
Moscow also took aim at Berlin, after chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz proposed a huge spending boost on defence and said Moscow was waging a “war of aggression against Europe”.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the comments were a reflection of the “German political elites’ desire for historical revenge”.
EU summit
While in Oslo, the Ukrainian leader addressed a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, which saw all member nations bar Hungary signing a joint statement backing Ukraine.
Speaking by videolink, Zelenskyy said it was “simply anti-European when one person blocks decisions that are important for the entire continent”, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban’s repeated opposition to EU support for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy also urged EU leaders to approve a package of at least 5 billion euros ($5.4bn) for artillery purchases for Ukraine and called for continued pressure on Russia.