US-Russia talks draw to a close with no sign of Ukraine peace agreement

Representatives of the United States and Russia have been in talks all day in the Saudi capital Riyadh, trying to agree on the first steps towards ending more than three years of fighting in Ukraine.

The meeting, held behind closed doors at the Ritz Carlton hotel, was drawing to a close after more than 10 hours, Russian negotiator Grigory Karasin told the Interfax news agency.

Mr Karasin, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian Federation Council, had earlier described the negotiations as creative but was vague about the prospects of an agreement.

Mr Karasin led the Russian team alongside Sergey Beseda, a senior intelligence official and close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Not every negotiation has to end with extensive documents and agreements,” he said.

He emphasised that it is important to stay in constant contact and to understand the other side’s point of view.

“We are succeeding in doing that,” he said.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also dampened expectations of a written agreement, telling the state news agency TASS that no documents were planned.

US President Donald Trump himself listed other issues he said were on the table: “We’re talking about territory right now. We’re talking about lines of demarcation, talking about power, power plant ownership.”

The US delegation in Saudi Arabia includes multiple teams, with both US special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz present.

The US representatives already held initial talks with the Ukrainian negotiating team on Sunday, which Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov described as “constructive and informative”.

According to Ukrainian media reports, further talks between US and Ukrainian representatives were planned for later on Monday.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator Andrii Yermak also travelled to Saudi Arabia.

Ahead of the talks, Mr Kellogg had described the process as “shuttle diplomacy,” designed to bring the positions of the warring parties closer together in order to stop the war in Ukraine.

While Ukraine has endorsed Mr Trump’s proposal for a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire, Mr Putin has set several preconditions, including a demand that all foreign military aid to Ukraine ends.

The negotiations therefore likely focused on smaller steps, such as a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea to protect shipping routes and a commitment to refrain from striking energy infrastructure.

Both Russia and Ukraine have already agreed in principle to a truce on attacks on energy facilities but it has yet to be implemented.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike damaged a school and a hospital in northeastern Ukraine on Monday, wounding at least 74 people according to local officials.

Several high-rise residential blocks were damaged in the city of Sumy along with a school and hospital, regional governor Volodymyr Artiukh said in a video filmed in front of a blaze producing a column of smoke.

The schoolchildren were in a shelter at the time, averting worse casualties, he added.

“Moscow speaks of peace while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

“Instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians.”

The Ukrainian military said on Monday that its forces had destroyed four Russian military helicopters stationed near the border.

The press office of a Ukrainian special forces unit published images said to show a HIMARS multiple rocket launcher attacking helicopters stationed on an airfield in the Russian border region of Belgorod.

The aircraft hit were two Mi-8 transport helicopters and two Ka-52 combat helicopters, it said.

It was not initially possible to independently verify the claims.

with Reuters and DPA