Negotiations for a partial Russia-Ukraine ceasefire spearheaded by a US delegation are under way in Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin has said.
The talks in Riyadh between a US delegation and Russian negotiators started on Monday morning.
It follows a round of discussions between US and Ukrainian negotiators, Russian media reported.
Reaching a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea will be the primary aim of the talks, the White House said, to allow for the free flow of shipping.
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White House national security adviser Mike Waltz told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday the teams will also discuss “the line of control” between the two countries, which he described as “verification measures, peacekeeping, freezing the lines where they are”.
He said “confidence-building measures” were being discussed, including the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
It comes after US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff dismissed UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s plans as a “combination of a posture and a pose” in an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson.
The prime minister has suggested a “coalition of the willing“, made up of several European and NATO countries, could provide boots on the ground in Ukraine after a ceasefire.
Mr Witkoff, who is leading the US ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine and Russia, also accused the prime minister of adopting the “simplistic” notion that leaders “have all got to be like Winston Churchill”.
“The Russians are going to march across Europe. I think that’s preposterous. We have something called NATO that we did not have in World War Two,” he said.
Mr Witkoff recently met with the Russian leader in Moscow and told Carlson he “liked” Russian President Vladimir Putin, who in February 2022 shocked the world by launching a land, air and sea invasion of Ukraine.
“I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy,” Mr Witkoff said. “I thought that he was straight up with me.”
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It comes as Russia launched its third consecutive overnight attack on Kyiv, wounding one person and damaging houses in the region, according to the city’s governor.
Ukraine’s air force said on Monday it shot down 57 out of 99 drones.
It follows a weekend of deadly strikes on Ukraine.
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Officials said at least seven people were killed in the country after Moscow launched a series of drone attacks on Saturday night.
The attacks struck the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa and Donetsk regions, as well as the capital.
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Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko described the attack as “massive”, adding emergency services were dispatched to several districts.
Three people, including a five-year-old child, were killed and 10 others were injured in Kyiv, the city’s military administration said.
