The Kremlin said that the Black Sea ceasefire would come into effect after the West lifts the sanctions against Russia's Rosselkhozbank and other financial organizations involved in supporting international food trade operations and restores their connection to the SWIFT messaging system.
"All parties agreed to implement the presidential agreement on a complete ban on strikes on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine and Russia," Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.
"They sat for 12 hours and seemed to agree on a joint statement, which, however, was not adopted because of Ukraine's position. This is also very typical and symptomatic," Vladimir Chizhov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council Security Committee claimed.
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is scheduled discuss a possible ceasefire deal in the Black Sea with his Russian counterpart later on March 25, Fox News reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that the issue was the focus of the 12-hour Russian-U.S. talks in Riyadh on March 24.
Some 77% of Ukrainians view the proposed 30-day truce positively, according to an Omnibus opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and published on March 25.
Ukrainian and U.S. delegations are scheduled to meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 25, AFP reported, citing a source within the Ukrainian delegation.
The international community, including the U.N. and "individual countries," will be involved in the U.S.-Russian talks on ending the war against Ukraine, Russian negotiator Grigory Karasin told state-owned news agency TASS on March 25.
A "positive announcement" is expected "in the near future," a White House source told Reuters following the most recent negotiations between the U.S. and Russia on March 24.
The teams are expected to meet again following initial talks on March 23, an unnamed Ukrainian delegation official said on March 24.
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce refused to say whether the Trump administration believes Russia has a legitimate claim to occupied Ukrainian lands. "There's a lot of conversations happening," she said.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio seen by Reuters on March 24, senators questioned the administration’s willingness to use all available financial tools to pressure Russia into ending its war against Ukraine.
A Kremlin-linked official told the Moscow Times that Vladimir Putin cannot afford to lose these territories politically, and Russia intends to solidify its grip on them at any cost.
Ten years after Kyiv and Moscow first negotiated a ceasefire to end the fighting in Ukraine’s east, the two sides may once again find themselves around the negotiating table to reach a truce on the battlefield. This time around, Kyiv insists that any ceasefire alone will not be enough
Steve Witkoff's controversial comments on the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine have prompted criticism from Ukrainian lawmakers.
"The matter of the Black Sea Initiative and everything related to the initiative's renewal are on the agenda today," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be immediately briefed on the results of the consultations.
A Russian diplomatic source told the Moscow Times that time is now playing in Russia's favor, and the Kremlin wants to "make the most of it."
Over 30 countries have expressed willingness to contribute to the coalition's peacekeeping force, Starmer's spokesperson said on March 17.
"The discussion concerned a mutual ceasefire: we won't attack their facilities at sea and rivers, and they won't attack our facilities, our Kherson and Mykolaiv ports, the Greater Odesa ports," Serhii Leshchenko, a Presidential Office advisor, said on national television.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied claims in the media that it considers participating in a possible peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, China's state-run newspaper Global Times reported on March 24.
The meeting, which came a day after talks between the U.S. and Ukraine, was expected to focus on Washington's push for a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea and a potential overall halt on military activity.
The meeting with a technical team comes a day before the U.S. plans to hold separate meetings with Ukrainian and Russian delegates on March 24
Witkoff has also praised Vladimir Putin as being gracious, adding that he doesn’t regard the Russian president and war criminal as a "bad guy."
The White House still believes it could achieve a truce by Easter, a symbolic date as both Western and Orthodox celebrations overlap this year, although it's prepared for a delay given the current impasse, sources told Bloomberg.
"I don't think there's anybody in the world that's going to stop (Putin) except me," Trump said shortly before three people were killed in Kyiv by Russian drones.
A U.S. technical team will meet with the Ukrainian delegation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 23, a day before the U.S. plans to mediate "indirect talks" with Ukraine and Russia.
Russian senator Grigory Karasin, who will lead Moscow’s delegation, told local Zvezda TV that he and FSB advisor Sergey Beseda would enter the negotiations with a "combative and constructive" approach.
The Kremlin has revived familiar narratives portraying Ukraine as the aggressor and acting under Western influence, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
U.S. negotiators will meet separately with Ukrainian and Russian delegates in Riyadh on March 24, but although contours of a potential partial ceasefire proposal are beginning to form, Kyiv remains skeptical of Moscow's intentions. The upcoming discussions are meant to flesh out technical details on what this ceasefire, either
The U.K. will host three more days of military planning sessions next week to prepare high-level plans on mobilizing a European-led "coalition of the willing" in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Office said on March 21.
Ukraine has not held elections during Russia's full-scale war because they are prohibited under martial law, which was declared on Feb. 24, 2022.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia has only suspended strikes on energy infrastructure while continuing to target other facilities.
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