Saudi meeting March 11. This image from March 11 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia shows U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and other Ukrainian and Saudi officials. Salah Malkawi/Getty Images
The U.S. is set to hold separate talks with Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia to discuss a proposed ceasefire for the war started by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The talks are set to take place amid concerns that the Kremlin is weaponizing ceasefire negotiations to delay and undermine negotiations for a settlement to the war.
Yuriy Boyechko, the founder of the humanitarian organization Hope for Ukraine, told Newsweek that the U.S. must pressure Russia to agree to the full 30-day ceasefire negotiated between the U.S. and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. State Department and Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries for comment.
Why It Matters
On Tuesday, Putin and U.S. President Donald Trumpspoke on the phone, raising the stakes in moves to end the war in Ukraine. However, the Russian leader's agreement to a 30-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure has been undermined by claims on both sides of continued strikes.
The hope is that though the talks in Saudi Arabia, Washington can persuade Putin to commit to a full truce.
What To Know
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the meetings in Saudi Arabia would see U.S. officials meeting with Ukrainian experts and then holding separate talks with Russian representatives.
Keith Kellogg, Trump's Ukraine envoy, likewise told broadcaster Glenn Beck that there would be "shuttle diplomacy between rooms" in Riyadh, with U.S. officials meeting with their Ukrainian counterparts and then holding separate talks with the Russian delegation. The practice is also known as "proximity talks."
Another Trump envoy, Steve Witkoff, told broadcaster Tucker Carlson that the biggest problem in the conflict was the issue of Crimea and the "four regions" where the Russians held illegal referendums on joining Russia.
Witkoff said Moscow held de facto control of these territories and that the question was whether the world would acknowledge them as Russian territories, a status Kyiv would reject.
Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and has claimed to have annexed Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia, although they are not fully controlled by Moscow.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Jacobs, CBS News' White House correspondent, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz would not attend the Riyadh meetings.
American technical teams intend to meet with the Ukrainian delegation on Sunday and with the Russian delegation on March 24, and they may meet with the Ukrainian delegation again later that day if there is progress.
Russia is set to be represented by Grigory Karasin, who chairs the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Sergei Beseda, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Zelensky said Kyiv would present a list of Ukrainian facilities that the strikes moratorium should protect. Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, said the talks would focus on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, D.C., said on Friday that the Kremlin was weaponizing ceasefire negotiations and misrepresenting the terms of a future ceasefire agreement to undermine negotiations for a settlement.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Friday that Ukrainian forces blew up the Sudzha gas distribution station in Russia's Kursk Oblast to discredit Putin's "peace initiatives" and to provoke Russia. Kyiv has denied the claim and said Russian forces shelled the station.
Meanwhile, speculation continues over what progress can be made in Saudi Arabia, especially if Putin considers himself as having the battlefield advantage.
Boyechko told Newsweek that a partial ceasefire would only serve Russia's interests and that Trump must push Putin to agree to a complete ceasefire, as the U.S. has demanded from Ukraine.
What People Are Saying
Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, said: "We are putting what we call technical teams in what are called proximity talks in Saudi Arabia, where both sides come in; they are kept in separate rooms. … It's basically shuttle diplomacy between rooms in Riyadh."
Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy for the Middle East, said: "The elephant in the room is, there are constitutional issues within Ukraine as to what they can concede to with regard to giving up territory."
Yuriy Boyechko, the founder of Hope for Ukraine, told Newsweek: "The U.S. must put greater pressure on Russia to agree to the full 30-day ceasefire that was negotiated between the U.S. and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia last week-a partial ceasefire serves only Russia's interests."
What Happens Next
Following the phone call between Trump and Putin, the heavy diplomatic lifting is expected to begin in Saudi Arabia. A Ukrainian source told the Agence France-Presse that Kyiv hoped to secure at least a partial ceasefire.
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This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 9:40 AM.