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Speaking on eve of talks, Trump’s special envoy says ‘smart guy’ Putin does not want to take all of Europe
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Ceasefire talks have got underway in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh this morning between Russian officials and a delegation from the Trump administration.
US envoys began simultaneous but separate talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on Sunday night, with the discussions focussing on a ceasefire in the Black Sea and the terms of a halt on attacks on energy infrastructure.
Vladimir Putin‘s forces struck Kyiv for the third night in a row overnight, while the two sides exchanged attacks involving dozens of drones each even as talks to cease hostilities began.
On the eve of the talks, Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff rejected Sir Keir Starmer‘s peace plans for Ukraine as “a posture and a pose” and praised Vladimir Putin as a “smart guy”.
“I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy,” Mr Witkoff told Trump-supporting commentator Tucker Carlson. “I just don’t see that he wants to take all of Europe.”
Ukrainian missiles destroyed four Russian helicopters in Russia’s Belgorod region, Kyiv’s military said.
Moscow’s forces had established a landing site for the aircraft from which it could carry out rapid operations and surprise attacks on Ukraine, Kyiv’s Special Operations Forces said.
Footage appears to show the destruction of two Russian Ka-52 and two Mi-8 helicopters, which Ukraine says have bee actively used in Russia’s war.
“We proved that nothing is out of reach for Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces,” the unit said in a statement according to The Kyiv Independent.
The Belgorod region borders Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions – and is regularly used by Russia to attack Ukrainian territory.
A phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was a “step towards a face-to-face meeting, the Kremlin said on Sunday.
The Russia-US talks currently underway in Riyadh would also be such a step, it said according to Interfax news agency.
Meanwhile, it has been reported in Bloomberg that Washington hopes to reach a broad ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine within weeks, targeting a truce agreement by April 20, citing people familiar with the planning.
A five-year-old girl was among those killed in an overnight Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday.
The girl’s father was one of the two other people killed in Kyiv on Sunday. Another 10 people were injured including an 11-month-old child, the city’s military administration said.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, the girl and her father moved to Kyiv after fleeing from Orikhiv, a front line town in the region of Zaporizhzhia. The mother of the girl, who survived the attack, reportedly remains in hospital.
Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the military administration, said the attack reflects the reality of Russia’s “desire for peace”.
Russian air defence destroyed 28 drones fired by Ukraine last night, Moscow’s defence ministry said on Monday.
Twelve drones were downed over the border Kursk region and the southern Russia Rostov region, the ministry said on Telegram.
The remaining four were destroyed over Crimea, the Krasnodar region and the waters of the Sea of Azov.
It is not clear exactly how many drones were fired in total.
Andy Gregory reports:
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow’s main focus on Monday would be on a possible resumption of the UN-brokered July 2022 deal to ensure safe navigation for commercial vessels in the Black Sea.
Despite Russia having unilaterally withdrawn later that same year, the Kremlin claimed that Mr Putin had “responded constructively” to a Trump initiative on Black Sea shipping and had agreed to begin negotiations.
In remarks that will do little to assuage European fears that the White House is increasingly parroting Kremlin propaganda, US special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday: “I feel that [Mr Putin] wants peace.
“I think that you’re going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that, you’ll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.”
Broadly, the talks will focus on the details of a proposed 30-day ceasefire on strikes on energy infrastructure – as well as a longer-term peace deal.
Following a phone call last week, Mr Putin and Mr Trump agreed “that the movement to peace will begin” with a 30-day pause in attacks on Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities, the White House said.
But that narrowly defined ceasefire was quickly cast into doubt, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of bombing its own oil depot in Kursk to undermine the agreement, while also striking hospitals and homes in Ukraine and knocking out power to some railways.
Nevertheless, Mr Zelensky has said that Kyiv would draw up a list of facilities which could be subject to a partial ceasefire, including not just energy, but also rail and port infrastructure.
A moratorium on energy facilities could disproportionately favour Moscow, given Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities have been a key route for Kyiv to inflict pain on its aggressor.
Officials from Kyiv and Washington met in Riyadh’s grand Ritz-Carlton hotel behind closed doors on Sunday, where they discussed details of a partial ceasefire in Ukraine.
Kyiv’s delegation was led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, who hailed the “productive and focussed” talks on X after the meeting concluded.
Mr Umerov said the meeting addressed the “complex technical issues” of a ceasefire on energy infrastructure, and that the delegation was focussed on Kyiv’s goal of securing a “just and lasting peace” for all of Europe.
Talks between the US and Russia have begun in Saudi Arabia, Russian state media reports.
In an intense round of diplomacy, US officials will hold simultaneous talks with their counterparts from Kyiv and Moscow as they look to push through a 30-day partial ceasefire in Ukraine.
The delegations will also discuss the prospect of a longer-term peace deal following the initial ceasefire.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 57 drones out of 99 launched by Russia overnight.
Another 36 imitator drones did not reach their targets, it said. It did not specify what happened to the remaining six drones.
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