Riyadh, KSA – Russia and the US began the latest round of bilateral talks on Monday in Saudi Arabia.

Russian state news agency TASS reported that the negotiations started in Riyadh in a closed format and that Saudi security officials requested journalists at the venue to leave the premises.

On Thursday, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, following a phone call with US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, announced that the new round of talks would take place on March 24 in Riyadh.

The meeting is aimed ‘mainly to work out the prospects for the possible implementation of the well-known initiative concerning the safety of navigation in the Black Sea’, Ushakov said in a Kremlin statement, referring to the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The meeting between the two delegations follows separate talks between Kyiv and Washington’s delegations in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, which Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov described as ‘productive’.

“President Volodymyr Zelensky’s goal is to secure a just and lasting peace for our country and our people – and, by extension, for all of Europe. We are working to make that goal a reality,” said Umerov on Facebook.

Zelensky urges pressure on Russia

Meanwhile, Zelensky on Sunday called on Ukraine’s allies to apply new pressure on Moscow to stop the war.

The call came after nearly 150 Russian drones targeted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least seven people.

“New decisions and new pressure on Moscow are needed to put an end to these strikes and this war,” Zelensky posted on social media ahead of talks on a partial ceasefire.

In a post on Instagram earlier, Zelensky also said, over 1,580 guided aerial bombs, nearly 1,100 attack drones, and 15 missiles of various types were used against the Ukrainian people this week alone, stressing that all of this weaponry contains at least 102,000 foreign components.

“That’s why sanctions against Russian terrorists must be more effective. Every loophole that allows them to bypass the sanctions regime must be eliminated,” he wrote.

‘Difficult negotiations’

Meanwhile, Russia downplayed expectations of a quick resolution to the war in Ukraine, saying talks were just beginning and that ‘difficult negotiations’ lay ahead.

“We are only at the beginning of this path,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV.

According to Peskov, Russia’s ‘main’ focus in its talks with the United States would be to discuss the possible resumption of a 2022 Black Sea grain deal, which would ensure safe navigation for Ukrainian agricultural exports in the Black Sea.

US expects real progress in talks

US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said he expects Ukraine and Russia to make progress on a ceasefire in the Black Sea at the talks in Saudi Arabia.

“I think 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 to a full-on shooting ceasefire,” he told Fox News.

Witkoff also said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants peace and is not planning to invade ‘all of Europe’.

“I feel that he wants peace,” Witkoff said.

Meanwhile, White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said the United States is discussing a range of confidence-building measures aimed at ending the war, including the future of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

Earlier, Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and immediate 30-day ceasefire. Instead, he proposed halting strikes only on energy facilities. But on the eve of the negotiations, both sides launched new drone attacks.

Agencies