{"id":131120,"date":"2025-03-24T11:46:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T11:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-us-and-russia-start-ceasefire-talks-in-saudi-arabia-as-attacks-continue-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-03-24T11:46:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T11:46:35","slug":"ukraine-war-live-us-and-russia-start-ceasefire-talks-in-saudi-arabia-as-attacks-continue-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-us-and-russia-start-ceasefire-talks-in-saudi-arabia-as-attacks-continue-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war live: US and Russia start ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia as attacks continue – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kremlin claims that a suspension of strikes against infrastructure, as agreed in Trump-Putin call, remains in place despite ongoing attacks
The Kremlin is claiming that a suspension on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, agreed in the Putin-Trump phone call last Tuesday, remains in place.
Last week, Vladimir Putin agreed to Donald Trump\u2019s proposal for a 30-day halt on attacks to energy infrastructure<\/a>. The ceasefire, however, was cast into doubt soon after, with both sides reporting continued strikes.
\u201cSo far, there have been no other orders from the president,\u201d Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said when asked if Russia<\/a> intended to maintain its moratorium or not.
Speaking to journalists at a daily briefing, he added:
<\/path><\/svg>Our armed forces are following all instructions of the supreme commander-in-chief, but of course we are monitoring the situation very closely.<\/em>
Our American interlocutors are also able to monitor the situation and draw the appropriate conclusions.<\/em>
Russia has been relentlessly targeting Ukraine\u2019s infrastructure since it launched its full scale invasion in February 2022, while in recent months Ukraine<\/a> has been increasingly able to hit targets deep inside Russia with long-range drones.
Kyiv, which accused Russia of flouting its moratorium almost immediately, said it would need to sign a formal document to suspend its own attacks, something which has not happened.
Beijing has dismissed reports that China might send peacekeepers to Ukraine<\/a> to enforce any future peace deal.
\u201cLet me stress that the report is completely false. China\u2019s position on the Ukraine crisis is clear and consistent,\u201d China\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun<\/strong> said at a daily briefing.
China has provided Russia<\/a> with trade earnings from oil and other natural resources, along with diplomatic backing, but has not given any weapons or sent any personnel.
Beijing and Moscow proclaimed a \u201cno limits\u201d partnership<\/a> just days before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Beijing says it is neutral in the conflict and has repeatedly signalled a willingness to act as a peacemaker in the war.
At least four people were killed and 13 others injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine<\/a> over the past day, regional officials reported earlier today.
Two people were killed in the Donetsk<\/strong> region (one in Pokrovsk<\/strong> and one in the village of Donetske<\/strong>) and two in the Sumy<\/strong> region, according to local officials. We have not yet been able to independently verify these reports.
At his daily briefing with journalists, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was Donald Trump<\/strong> who had proposed discussing the collapsed Black Sea deal<\/strong> at the talks and that Vladimir Putin<\/strong> had agreed for it to be a topic for discussion.
\u201cThis is primarily about the safety of navigation,\u201d Peskov said, when asked what the Black Sea deal amounted to.
\u201cBut if you remember the initiative in its previous form, there was quite a large part of the obligations to our country that were not fulfilled last time. Therefore, this will also be on the agenda today.\u201d
The UN and Turkey brokered the Black Sea deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine<\/a> to safely ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum between the UN and Russia pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscow\u2019s shipment of food and fertiliser to world markets.
But Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain initiative in July 2023<\/a>. Vladimir Putin partly blamed the withdrawal on western sanctions that he said restricted the sale of Russian agricultural products abroad.
The Kremlin is claiming that a suspension on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, agreed in the Putin-Trump phone call last Tuesday, remains in place.
Last week, Vladimir Putin agreed to Donald Trump\u2019s proposal for a 30-day halt on attacks to energy infrastructure<\/a>. The ceasefire, however, was cast into doubt soon after, with both sides reporting continued strikes.
\u201cSo far, there have been no other orders from the president,\u201d Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said when asked if Russia<\/a> intended to maintain its moratorium or not.
Speaking to journalists at a daily briefing, he added:
<\/path><\/svg>Our armed forces are following all instructions of the supreme commander-in-chief, but of course we are monitoring the situation very closely.<\/em>
Our American interlocutors are also able to monitor the situation and draw the appropriate conclusions.<\/em>
Russia has been relentlessly targeting Ukraine\u2019s infrastructure since it launched its full scale invasion in February 2022, while in recent months Ukraine<\/a> has been increasingly able to hit targets deep inside Russia with long-range drones.
Kyiv, which accused Russia of flouting its moratorium almost immediately, said it would need to sign a formal document to suspend its own attacks, something which has not happened.
We have some information trickling in from what is being discussed in the talks between US and Russian officials at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh<\/strong>, Saudi Arabia.
Reuters is reporting that the Kremlin said that Moscow and Washington shared a common understanding on the need to move towards a settlement to end the war in Ukraine<\/a>, but that there are still many different aspects that need to be worked out.
A fast US brokered ceasefire in Ukraine is unlikely for many reasons. Vladimir Putin<\/a> has said any talks must address what he frames as \u201cthe root causes\u201d of Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022, primarily his concerns around an expanding Nato alliance. Ukraine has made membership of the alliance a key strategic aim that it says would help protect the country in the event of future Russian aggression.
Putin also said during his call with Donald Trump earlier this month that any long-term deal would require an ending of intelligence sharing and military aid to Kyiv from its allies. Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> said after the call that Ukraine\u2019s allies would never agree to such a move, adding that he hopes supplies will continue.
Ukraine\u2019s Special Operations Forces (SSO) say they have destroyed four Russian military helicopters in Russian border region of Belgorod<\/strong> using US-made Himars missiles with cluster munitions.
The SSO said, in a post on X, that two Ka-52 strike helicopters and two Mi-8 transport helicopters were concealed in a \u201chidden position\u201d used for \u201crapid redeployment or attacks against Ukraine\u201d.
The Belgorod region has often been targeted by Ukrainian forces since the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion three years ago\/
Moscow is interested in restoring a deal that allowed Ukraine<\/a> to export grain from its ports without being attacked, according to reports.
If the deal is revived, Russia<\/a> would export farm produce and fertiliser through the Black Sea, getting relief from sanctions imposed by western countries.
Russia pulled out of the Turkish-brokered Black Sea grain deal<\/a> in July 2023, accusing the west of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia\u2019s own exports of agricultural products and fertilisers.
It meant Moscow stopped granting safe passage to cargo ships going to and from Ukraine, and the country\u2019s grain exports subsequently slumped. You can read more about the deal and its economic significance in this explainer<\/a>.
Ukraine\u2019s air force said it shot down 57 out of 99 drones launched by Russia overnight in the south, north, west and central regions of the country. Another 36 imitator drones did not reach their targets, it added in a post on Telegram.
The air force did not say what happened to the remaining six drones, but said the Kyiv<\/strong>, Kharkiv<\/strong>, Sumy<\/strong>, Kirovohrad<\/strong> and Zaporizhia<\/strong> regions were affected by the Russian attack.
As we mentioned in an earlier post<\/a>, US and Russian negotiators have sat down for talks in Riyadh<\/strong>, Saudi Arabia, on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine.
The meeting is expected to be followed by another round of talks between US and Ukrainian teams (after officials from Washington and Kyiv met yesterday).
The separate meetings are set to discuss details of a pause in long-range attacks against energy facilities and civilian infrastructure and a halt on attacks in the Black Sea<\/strong> to ensure safe commercial shipping.
Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> last week agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine energy targets for 30 days, after a lengthy phone call with US President Donald Trump.
But there is ongoing confusion about what constitutes energy infrastructure, with Kyiv pushing for railways and ports to be protected under the definition, which the Kremlin has framed narrowly.
Any deal in Riyadh comes after developments last week when Vladimir Putin agreed to Donald Trump\u2019s proposal for a 30-day halt on attacks to energy infrastructure<\/a>. The ceasefire, however, was cast into doubt soon after, with both sides reporting continued strikes.
In the talks, Washington has been eyeing a Black Sea ceasefire deal<\/strong>, a major aim of Russia<\/a>, before securing a wider agreement.<\/p>\n

As Reuters reports, the negotiations, which followed US talks with Ukraine on Sunday, come as Donald Trump intensifies his drive to end the three-year-old conflict after he last week spoke to both Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> and Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

A source briefed on the planning for the talks told Reuters that the US side was being led by Andrew Peek<\/strong>, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton<\/strong>, a senior State Department official.<\/p>\n

The White House says the aim of the talks is to reach a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, allowing the free flow of shipping.<\/p>\n

Russia will be represented by Grigory Karasin<\/strong>, a former diplomat who is now chair of the Federation Council\u2019s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sergei Beseda<\/strong>, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service.
The Russian-US talks in Saudi Arabia have started, according to Tass, the Russian state news agency. You can read our curtain raiser on the negotiations, and the gap between expectations on the two sides, here:
Welcome to our live coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war<\/a> \u2013 here\u2019s a snapshot of the latest.
Talks between the US and Russia are to be held in Saudi Arabia on Monday as Washington signalled its hope for \u201creal progress\u201d on a ceasefire in the Ukraine<\/a> war while Moscow warned that \u201cdifficult negotiations\u201d were ahead.
The start of the latest round of negotiations<\/a> comes a day after Ukrainian and US delegations held \u201cconstructive and meaningful\u201d talks in the kingdom with a focus on protecting energy facilities and critical infrastructure, Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov<\/strong> said.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff<\/strong> expressed optimism about the chances of ending the war, telling Fox News on Sunday: \u201cI think that you\u2019re 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\u2019ll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.\u201d
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> said his country\u2019s delegation to Sunday\u2019s talks was working in \u201ca completely constructive manner\u201d and \u201cthe conversation is quite useful\u201d.
\u201cBut no matter what we say to our partners today, we need to get Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes,\u201d the Ukrainian president said in a televised statement.
The Kremlin poured cold water on hopes for a rapid resolution<\/a> of the war, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov<\/strong> telling Russian state TV on Sunday: \u201cWe are only at the beginning of this path.\u201d
The US is pushing for a broad ceasefire by 20 April, Bloomberg has reported,<\/a> while sources said the timeline might slip given the wide gap between Kyiv and Moscow\u2019s positions.
In other news:
Witkoff dismissed Keir Starmer\u2019s attempts<\/a> to rally peacekeepers in Ukraine as \u201ca posture and a pose\u201d.<\/strong> He said the idea was based on a \u201csimplistic\u201d notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking: \u201cWe have all got to be like Winston Churchill.\u201d Witkoff also played down concerns among Washington\u2019s European Nato allies that Putin might be emboldened by any peace deal in Ukraine to invade other neighbours, saying: \u201cI just don\u2019t see that he wants to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than it was in world war two.\u201d
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said the US was talking through a range of confidence-building measures<\/strong> in the talks on the war, including on the future of Ukrainian children taken into Russia. Asked about the goals for the broader negotiations, Waltz said that after a Black Sea ceasefire was agreed, \u201cwe\u2019ll talk the line of control, which is the actual front lines. And that gets into the details of verification mechanisms, peacekeeping, freezing the lines where they are. And then, of course, the broader and permanent peace.\u201d
At least seven people were killed in a barrage of strikes from more than 140 drones across Ukraine on Sunday, according to local officials and emergency services<\/strong>. Explosions were heard in the early hours of the night across the capital, Kyiv, as the air raid continued for more than five hours. Russian drones and debris from downed drones, which were flying at lower altitudes to evade air defences, fell on residential buildings across Kyiv, with at least one child among those killed. The Russian barrage also struck the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa and Donetsk regions, according to officials.
The online systems of Ukraine\u2019s state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia were subjected to a large-scale, targeted cyber-attack<\/strong>, it said. Restoration of the online systems was ongoing, the company said on Telegram, but train traffic had been stable and running without delays.
Ukraine\u2019s air force said on Monday it shot down 57 drones out of 99 launched by Russia overnight<\/strong>. Another 36 imitator drones did not reach their targets, it said, while not specifying what happened to the remaining six drones.
Russian authorities said on Sunday their air defences destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones<\/strong> targeting the country\u2019s south-western regions, adding that the strikes had killed one person in Rostov<\/strong>.
Russian troops reportedly seized the small village of Sribne in eastern Ukraine\u2019s Donetsk region<\/strong>, while Ukraine\u2019s army said its troops had recaptured a small village called Nadia in the eastern Luhansk region.<\/p>\n

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Kremlin claims that a suspension of strikes against infrastructure, as agreed in Trump-Putin call, remains in place despite ongoing attacksThe Kremlin is claiming that a suspension on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, agreed in the Putin-Trump phone call last Tuesday, remains in place.Last week, Vladimir Putin agreed to Donald Trump\u2019s proposal for a 30-day halt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}