A Russian negotiator told state media that Moscow hopes to make “some progress” at talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday, ahead of the United States meeting Russian and Ukrainian representatives in an effort to end the three-year conflict.
Instead, Moscow has suggested stopping airstrikes on energy installations, rejecting a combined US-Ukraine plan for a complete and unconditional 30-day truce.
Both parties have persisted in launching aerial attacks in the lead-up to the negotiations despite that offer.
A family of three was killed in a Russian hit on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday night, which infuriated Ukrainian authorities.
According to Ukraine’s emergency service, Russia also carried out drone strikes on Kyiv that struck apartment complexes and started fires, killing at least two people early on Sunday.
A “massive attack by enemy UAVs” on Sunday, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, resulted in falling debris in multiple city areas, wounding seven people.
On Monday, US negotiators will hold separate meetings with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia. US ambassador Keith Kellogg referred to this as “shuttle diplomacy” between hotel rooms.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s intense diplomatic efforts and pressure, a breakthrough has yet to materialise.
Russian senator Grigory Karasin, who will head the Russian delegation, told Zvezda TV that “we hope to achieve at least some progress,” without mentioning which issue.
Sergey Beseda, an FSB expert and fellow negotiator, added, “We would approach the negotiations with a combative and constructive attitude.”
A day earlier, a top Ukrainian official told AFP that Kyiv wants to reach an agreement “at least” on a limited truce that would cover attacks on infrastructure, energy, and the sea. Kyiv’s defence minister is attending the talks.
According to Karasin, “We are going with the mood to fight for the solution of at least one issue,” Zvezda, which is controlled by the Russian Defence Ministry, reported.
Credit: Kyiv Post
He said they were leaving for Saudi Arabia on Sunday and would return on Tuesday.
– Drone barrage –
There are concerns about the negotiators Russia selected for the negotiations. Both are not under the purview of conventional diplomatic decision-making bodies like the foreign ministry, defence ministry, or Kremlin.
Beseda, a veteran of the FSB, is currently an advisor to the director of the security service, while Karasin, a career diplomat, is currently a member of Russia’s upper house of parliament.
In 2014, the FSB acknowledged that Beseda was in Kyiv amid a brutal crackdown on the Ukrainian capital during the pro-EU revolution.
Ukraine has denounced Russia’s continuous strikes and accused it of not sincerely pursuing peace, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he has given his troops orders to cease attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
However, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, a US official close to Trump, has hailed Putin as a “great” leader who is working to resolve the issue with Kyiv. Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow last week.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, a right-wing podcast host in the United States, Witkoff stated, “I thought he was straight up with me,” which was broadcast on Friday.
“I do not consider Putin to be a villain. “That war, that situation, and all the factors that preceded it are complicated,” Trump’s envoy stated.
Ukraine’s air force reported Saturday that Russia had launched 179 drones at Ukraine in its most recent midnight assault.
A drone crashed into a family’s home in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday, killing the whole family, including a 14-year-old girl, according to regional police.
At one hit, an AFP photographer observed rescuers searching through the debris of a demolished structure while fog and smoke pervaded the night sky.
According to the local governor, Russian strikes on Saturday killed at least two people and injured three more in the eastern Donetsk region.
Additionally, Ukraine launched drone strikes on Russia during the night, injuring two people in Rostov-on-Don, a city in the south.
While Russia has been attempting to encircle and seize Pokrovsk for months, Zelensky claimed to have visited soldiers defending the beleaguered eastern city.
