The Russian and American delegations met on Monday in a palace in Ryad, the day after a first round of discussions between Americans and Ukrainians. Unsurprisingly and even after twelve hours of talks, no announcement on a possible truce of fights in Ukraine has been decided.
However, after the merger of US President Donald Trump who says he wants to quickly end the conflict in Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the thread of dialogue could be restored. Russia said on Tuesday that they want to continue its discussions with the United States on Ukraine by including other interlocutors, including the UN.
“We talked about everything, it was an intense dialogue, not easy, but very useful for us and for the Americans,” said one of the Russian negotiators, Grigori Karassine, to the official Russian agency Tass.
The impression of “a constructive dialogue”
During these discussions where Grigori Karassine represented Russia with Sergei Besseda, an FSB executive, the security services, “many problems were discussed,” he said. “Of course, we are far from having settled everything, to agree on all points, but it seems to me that such a conversation is very opportune,” he added.
“We will continue to do so, by leading to the international community, above all the United Nations and certain countries,” he said, stressing having had the impression of “a constructive dialogue which is necessary and essential”.
The White House and the Kremlin are expected to publish a joint statement on Tuesday to summarize their qualified negotiations from the start of “difficult” by Moscow, Russian agencies said.
Negotiations on the cereal agreement
The Ukrainian delegation, according to one of its members, provided new discussions with the American team, once known “the results of the United States – Russia meeting”. According to a source quoted by the Ukrainian public media suspected, the delegation should remain on the spot one more day for new exchanges with the American team.
During a previous meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, Ukraine had accepted an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, rejected by Russia. From now on, discussions relate to a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea, to allow a return to the cereal agreement which had enabled Ukraine, from July 2022 to July 2023, to export its cereals, vital for world food, despite the presence of the Russian fleet in the area. Russia then withdrew, accusing Westerners of not respecting their commitments supposed to soften the sanctions on Russian exports.
This cereal agreement and “all aspects relating to its replacement are at the agenda”, confirmed, on Monday, the spokesperson of the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov. “It was President Trump’s proposal and President Putin accepted it,” he added, without mentioning a possible commitment concerning the suspension of the fighting.
For his part, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Roustem Oumerov, described the meeting on Sunday with the Americans as “productive and targeted”. “We have addressed key points, especially energy,” he said. Washington and kyiv is now growing to, at least, a provisional stop on strikes on energy sites, largely damaged on the Ukrainian side. In addition, Ukraine says it is “ready” to a “general” and without conditions.
The fighting on the grounds continue
But Vladimir Putin, whose army is advancing on the ground despite heavy losses, seems to play the watch, as long as his soldiers did not expel the Ukrainian troops from the Russian Russian region of Koursk. At this stage, the Kremlin claims to have only agreed with Washington on a moratorium on the bombing of energy infrastructure.
Donald Trump’s emissary, Steve Witkoff, was still optimistic, saying to expect “real progress”, “particularly with regard to a ceasefire in the Black Sea on ships between the two countries”. “And, from that, we will naturally head for a total ceasefire,” he said.
However on the ground, the fighting continues. On Monday, a Russian strike made 90 injured, including 17 children, in Soumy, in northeast of Ukraine, according to the mayor of this city. A reporter, a cameraman and a driver employed by Russian media were killed in the field in eastern Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that it had intercepted a Ukrainian drone near an oil pumping station in the Krasnodar region, accusing kyiv of “continuing his attacks on energy infrastructure”.