US-Russia Talks Over Ukraine 'Intense' But Useful, Says Russian Negotiator

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service March 25, 2025

US-Russia talks over a partial cease-fire in Ukraine were "intense" but useful, said a member of the Russian negotiating team.

"We talked about everything, it was an intense dialogue, not easy, but very useful for us and the Americans," Grigory Karasin told the state TASS news agency on March 25. "Many problems were discussed."

A longtime former deputy foreign minister, Karasin said that US-Russia talks would continue and that the United Nations and other countries would be involved in them, without offering details.

His comments came after 12 hours of negotiations in Saudi Arabia, the venue for the talks.

As the negotiations took place, a Russian missile attack hit the Ukrainian city of Sumy, injuring more than 90 people, including 23 children.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy deplored the attack as the latest example of "losses, pain and destruction, something Ukraine never wanted."

Zelenskyy said Russia was "the only entity prolonging this war and tormenting both our people and the entire world."

"To force Russia into peace, strong measures and decisive actions are needed," he said in his nightly video address. "We are ready to support every strong initiative that makes diplomacy more effective."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X that the March 24 attack on Sumy showed Moscow's talk of peace were "hollow" statements.

"Moscow speaks of peace while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities," he wrote.

The Russian side also reported an attack. An occupation official in Ukraine's Luhansk region said that Ukrainian shelling had killed six people there, including a journalist for the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

The pro-Kremlin newspaper identified the journalist as Alexander Fedorchak, saying he was killed "in the Kharkiv region." Russia's Zvezda channel, which is sponsored by the Defense Ministry, said that its cameraman and driver were killed while filming a report with Fedorchak.

The talks in Saudi Arabia are part of US President Donald Trump's effort to end the war in Ukraine. The US-Russia meeting on March 24 came one day after separate talks between the US and Ukraine -- also in Saudi Arabia -- which Kyiv called "productive."

Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, said the Ukrainian delegation remained in Riyadh and expected to meet again with the Americans. Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that representatives from Ukraine and the US would meet again but did not specify when.

An unidentified source in the Russian delegation was quoted by TASS as saying that the Kremlin and the White House are to release a joint statement on March 25. Reuters quoted a Russian source as saying that a draft joint statement had been sent to Moscow and Washington for approval and the two sides aimed to release it on March 25.

Trump told reporters at the White House that territorial lines and the potential for US ownership of a the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine had been part of the talks.

Trump last week floated the idea of the US taking control of the power plant, which was seized by Russia early in the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the negotiations between Moscow and Washington were focused on technical issues, including the security of commercial shipping in the Black Sea region.

The US team at the talks was reportedly being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official.

Russia was represented by Karasin, who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's upper parliament chamber, and Sergei Beseda, adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service, according to Russian state media.

The talks in Saudi Arabia marked a milestone in US-led efforts to bring about a cease-fire in the Ukraine war, but the view from Kyiv and Moscow was sober.

"The maximum result is a pause. But this is still unknown, because the negotiations could drag on for a month or two," political analyst Serhiy Taran told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

"I think the most that can be imagined is that, perhaps, some technical details about the cease-fire will be worked out. And they will then be taken back to Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington in the form of proposals," he said.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-sumy-talks- ceasefire-war-saudi-arabia/33358195.html

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US-Russia Talks Over Ukraine 'Intense' But Useful, Says Russian Negotiator