US, Russia to hold next round of talks in Jeddah
Diplomatic talks between the United States and Russia are scheduled for March 23 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, US envoy Steve Witkoff has announced.
The discussions, led by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will focus on key details regarding the ceasefire in Ukraine, News.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.
Witkoff did not specify who the U.S. delegation would be meeting with, and it remains uncertain whether Ukraine will be included in the talks.
"Up until recently, we really didn't have consensus around these two aspects - the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing - and today we got to that place, and I think it's a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there," Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, told Fox News.
"I think both of those are now agreed to by the Russians. I am certainly hopeful that the Ukrainians will agree to it."
Witkoff said that during his last meeting with Putin, they "made a lot of progress."
On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a 30-day halt on strikes against energy infrastructure during a call with Trump, according to a Kremlin readout issued on the same day.
The statement followed the 1.5-hour phone call between Putin and Trump, during which they discussed ending the war in Ukraine and the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire to allow for further peace talks.
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