Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – US and Russian officials meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks on a partial ceasefire in the Ukraine war, a day after delegates from Washington and Kyiv had their own discussions.
Outstanding questions
But the Kremlin on Sunday downplayed expectations of a rapid resolution.
“We are only at the beginning of this path,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV.
He said there were many outstanding questions over how a potential ceasefire might be implemented.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian call for a full and immediate 30-day pause, proposing instead a halt in attacks only on energy facilities.
“There are difficult negotiations ahead,” Peskov said in the interview, published on social media.
Peskov said the “main” focus in its talks with the United States would be a possible resumption of a 2022 Black Sea grain deal that ensured safe navigation for Ukrainian farm exports via the Black Sea.
“On Monday, we mainly intend to discuss President Putin’s agreement to resume the so-called Black Sea initiative, and our negotiators will be ready to discuss the nuances around this problem,” Peskov said.
Moscow pulled out of the deal — 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 produce and fertilisers.
A senior Ukrainian official previously told AFP that Kyiv would propose a broader ceasefire, covering attacks on energy facilities, infrastructure and naval strikes.
Both sides launched fresh drone attacks on the eve of the negotiations.
Fresh pressure
Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone attack overnight Saturday killed three civilians in Kyiv, including a five-year-old girl and her father.
AFP reporters in the capital saw emergency workers treating the wounded early Sunday in front of damaged residential buildings hit in the strike.
Deadly strikes on the well-protected city are rarer than elsewhere in the country.
Zelensky urged his country’s allies to put fresh pressure on Russia.
“New decisions and new pressure on Moscow are needed to bring an end to these strikes and this war,” he posted on social media on Sunday.
Moscow heads into the Saudi talks after a rapprochement with Washington under Trump that has boosted confidence in the Kremlin.
Peskov said Sunday that the “potential for mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide variety of spheres between our countries cannot be overstated”.
“We may disagree on some things but that does not mean we should deprive ourselves of mutual benefit,” he added.
