American officials met with a Russian delegation for talks on ending the war in Ukraine. Moscow says it hopes to restore a deal that allows commercial ships to cross the war zone in the Black Sea.
According to TASS, the Kremlin’s top concern is the restoration of a 2022 deal that permitted cargo ships to carry fertilizer across the contested waters. “Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said the main topic of the consultations is the resumption of the Black Sea grain initiative,” the outlet reported.
TASS noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump discussed the issue during a call last week. The Black Sea Grain Initiative was in place for a year before Russia withdrew, saying it was unable to benefit from the agreement due to Western sanctions.
The Russian delegation was led by senior diplomat Grigory B. Karasin. The talks lasted for 12 hours, and Russian state media reported that Washington and Moscow may issue a joint statement on Tuesday.
The American side expected to discuss the 30-day limited ceasefire proposed by Trump. Both Moscow and Kiev have said they support ending attacks on energy fracture; however, those strikes have continued. Ukrainian President Zelensky said he would provide the US with a list of targets that he hoped would be protected during the truce.
The talks with Russian officials followed US and Ukrainian talks on Sunday. The American delegation was meeting with representatives from Moscow and Kiev in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Kiev said Ukrainian officials would meet with the American delegation for a second consecutive day on Monday following the US-Russian talks.
The Ukrainian team was headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who called Sunday’s talks “productive and focused.” Trump expected the negotiations with Ukraine would soon lead to Kiev signing a revenue-sharing agreement for Ukraine’s minerals.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said any deal with Russia would have to come with additional Western support for Kiev. “Any diplomacy with Moscow must be backed up by firepower, sanctions and pressure,” he wrote on X.
