United States officials are set to meet with their Ukrainian counterparts again after a round of talks with Russian negotiators on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine.
A senior Ukrainian official told the AFP news agency that the meeting would be held later on Monday after US and Russian delegations wrap up their day’s talks in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. Monday’s US-Russia talks were primarily focused on ending attacks on Black Sea shipping, with a view to ushering in a broader ceasefire agreement that would bring an end to the three-year Russia-Ukraine war.
US officials had already met the Ukrainian team on Sunday to discuss the protection of civilian and energy infrastructure, said Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the delegation and called the talks “productive”.
Reporting from Kiev, Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig said Ukraine was now keen to see Russia agree to a deal that would protect Black Sea shipping, particularly “the cessation of shelling of Ukrainian ports Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv”.
“Now that’s been a major concern for the Ukrainians. Ukraine really wants their ports operating and running and that’s why initially they proposed a ceasefire on air and sea,” said Baig.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that US and Russian officials were discussing the possible resumption of the 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement that was supposed to allow Ukraine to ship millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports from its ports.
Moscow pulled out of the initiative – brokered by Turkiye 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. (Agencies)
