Ukraine ceasefire talks planned Sunday in Jeddah — US

By AFP - Mar 19,2025 - Last updated at Mar 19,2025

Members of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Military rest around a fire after a field training exercise in an undisclosed location in the eastern region of Ukraine, on March 18, 2025 (AFP photo)

WASHINGTON - Talks on a ceasefire in Russia's war with Ukraine will continue on Sunday in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday.

In an interview with Fox News hours after Trump held a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Witkoff said talks on a ceasefire deal "will begin on Sunday in Jeddah."

Witkoff said the US delegation in Saudi Arabia would be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, but did not indicate who they would be holding talks with.

Referring to a ceasefire on energy infrastructure and targets in the Black Sea, Witkoff said: "I think both of those are now agreed to by the Russians. I am certainly hopeful that the Ukrainians will agree to it."

Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of effectively rejecting the US-backed ceasefire proposal, reporting a barrage of strikes on civilian infrastructure hours after Moscow agreed only to pause attacks on the energy grid.

Washington has been pushing for a full, 30-day ceasefire as a first step towards a wider settlement of the grinding three-year-old war.

In a 90-minute call with Trump on Tuesday, Russian President Putin refused, insisting that any such deal would be contingent on Ukraine's allies halting all military aid.

According to the Kremlin, Putin has already ordered his military to pause strikes against Ukrainian energy targets for 30 days.

Witkoff, however, reiterated that the proposed ceasefire included "energy and infrastructure in general."

Trump's envoy commended Russian President Putin "for all he did today on that call to move his country close to a final peace deal."

Witkoff said that with consensus around energy and infrastructure targets as well as those in the Black Sea, he believed "it's a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there."

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