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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump have agreed to hold talks between the Ukrainian and American delegations in Saudi Arabia. The main topic of the meeting will be to agree on the technical details of a partial truce, which provides for the abandonment of strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said this following a telephone conversation with Trump on 19 March, reports Yevropeiska Pravda.
What is known about the agreement?
Zelenskyy confirmed that he supported the idea of ending attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure.
“Ukraine has confirmed that it is ready to implement this. We have instructed our teams to resolve technical issues related to the implementation and expansion of the partial ceasefire. The Ukrainian and American groups are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to further coordinate steps towards peace,” Zelenskyy said.
According to him, advisers and representatives of Ukraine and the United States at the next meetings “can agree on all the necessary aspects of moving towards a stable peace and security guarantees”.
Background to the negotiations
Earlier, Donald Trump called his conversation with Zelenskyy “very good,” noting that it was partly based on his previous conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On 18 March, after talks between the US and Russian leaders, it was reported that Putin rejected the US proposal for a 30-day complete ceasefire, which Ukraine had agreed to earlier. Instead, Moscow agreed only to a temporary suspension of attacks on energy facilities.
However, already on 19 March, Zelenskyy said that Russia had continued its attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector, despite Putin’s promises.
What’s next?
The meeting of the Ukrainian and American delegations in Saudi Arabia could be the first step towards broader negotiations on the cessation of hostilities. However, the Kremlin’s guarantees remain unreliable, as Russia has already violated previous agreements.
It is expected that the talks in Saudi Arabia will determine the next steps of Ukraine and the United States towards resolving the conflict.
