U.S, Russia Begin Talks In Saudi Arabia While Russia, Ukraine Trade Charges Of Attacks On Energy

The Trump administration is meeting with Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia after having met with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Riyadh over the weekend.

On Sunday night, as their talks finished, Umerov wrote on X: “We have concluded our meeting with the American team. The discussion was productive and focused — we addressed key points including energy. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’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.”

We have concluded our meeting with the American team.
The discussion was productive and focused — we addressed key points including energy.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s goal is to secure a just and lasting peace for our country and our people — and, by extension, for all of…

— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) March 23, 2025

The Kremlin announced that the talks with the U.S. would center on the “Black Sea Initiative and all aspects related to its renewal,” including “navigation safety,” CNN reported.

The July 2022 “Black Sea Grain Initiative” permitted Ukraine to export grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers from Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi. A Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) was established in Istanbul to monitor the deal, which Russia terminated in July 2023.

In the last week, both sides accused each other of attacking energy infrastructure in the other’s territory in defiance of the agreement that neither side would do so.

“The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace,” the White House had stated. “These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.”

Last Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Russia bombed civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, saying, “Right now, in many regions, you can literally hear what Russia truly needs. Around 40 ‘Shahed’ drones are in our skies, and air defense is active. Unfortunately, there have been hits, specifically on civilian infrastructure. A direct hit by a ‘Shahed’ drone on a hospital in Sumy, strikes on cities in the Donetsk region, and attack drones currently in the skies over the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Cherkasy regions.”

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated over the weekend:

Despite the agreement initiated by the United States on non-strikes on energy infrastructure facilities, which Kiev would seem to have officially supported, the treacherous attacks of the Nazi regime on Russian territory continue. On March 19, an oil depot in the Kuban was hit, and on March 21, the Sudzha gas measuring station in the Kursk region was hit. In addition, regular barbaric cases of the deliberate direction of the drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to residential buildings and social institutions have been recorded.