A United States delegation led by real estate tycoon-turned-diplomat Steve Witkoff has begun a high-stakes meeting with Kremlin negotiators in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the Trump administration is pushing for a ceasefire in separate talks with Russia and Ukraine.
Russia’s TASS news agency reported that talks were underway on Monday morning, citing an unnamed source.
The meeting comes one day after talks between a US team led by President Donald Trump’s Kyiv envoy, Keith Kellogg, and Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, which was described by the latter as “productive and focused.”
While many watching from Washington, and across Europe, will hope some initial positivity can be translated into a 30-day ceasefire and longer-term negotiations, a wide gulf in expectations exists between Russia, Ukraine and their US interlocutors.
A barrage of Russian drone attacks killed at least six in Ukraine over the weekend, including young families. Moscow accuses Ukraine of recent hits on gas and oil facilities in Kursk and Krasnodar despite its offer to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
The Russian delegation at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh includes seasoned Kremlin diplomat Grigory Karasin and former spy chief Sergey Beseda, according to Russian state media. Beseda is viewed by many in Ukraine as a hard-nosed nationalist and early supporter of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The trust deficit on the Ukrainian side has not been helped by Witkoff’s recent rhetorical support for many of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s maximalist positions ahead of talks. Speaking to podcast host Tucker Carlson on Sunday, Witkoff appeared to show some sympathy toward Russia’s territorial ambitions in Ukraine, describing the four regions Russia wants to formally annex — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk — as “Russian speaking.”
“There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule,” he said.
Russia held the referendums in occupied areas of the four territories in September 2022. The votes were widely viewed as a sham and heavily criticized by the US at the time as well as by allies in Europe.
“The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is: Will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?” Witkoff asked Sunday. “Can (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict.”
Moscow says a ceasefire will not be possible unless Kyiv agrees not to use it to resupply or reorganize its troops. It has also publicly voiced key demands such as Ukraine never being allowed to join NATO.
Speaking Sunday night, Zelensky put the responsibility on Putin to end the war.
“The one who brought this war must take it away,” he said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.