Ukraine-Russia warfare reside: US-led ceasefire talks begin in Saudi Arabia after Putin bombs Kyiv for third night time

Talks between the US and Russia have begun in Saudi Arabia, Russian state media experiences.

In an intense spherical of diplomacy, US officers will maintain simultaneous talks with their counterparts from Kyiv and Moscow as they give the impression of being to push by means of a 30-day partial ceasefire in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air pressure stated it shot down 57 drones out of 99 launched by Russia in a single day.

One other 36 imitator drones didn’t attain their targets, it stated. It didn’t specify what occurred to the remaining six drones.

Steve Witkoff stated the Labour chief’s thought of a peacekeeping pressure made up of the ‘coalition of the keen’ was based mostly on a “simplistic” notion of pondering “we’ve got all acquired to be like Winston Churchill”.

Mr Witkoff is main the US ceasefire negotiations with Russia and Ukraine.

A US delegation will search progress towards a Black Sea ceasefire and a broader cessation of violence within the warfare in Ukraine when it meets for talks with Russian officers right this moment, held after separate discussions with diplomats from Ukraine.

A supply briefed on the planning for the talks stated the US facet was being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director on the White Home Nationwide Safety Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Division official.

They met the Ukrainians final night time and plan to sit down down with the Russians this morning.

The White Home says the purpose of the talks is to succeed in a maritime ceasefire within the Black Sea, permitting the free stream of transport

The Russian and US delegations plan to start their talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at 7am GMT (10am Moscow time), the Russian state information TASS company reported, citing an unnamed supply.

The ceasefire negotiations can be held on the identical day as separate talks happen between the US and Ukrainian officers, additionally in Saudi Arabia.

On the eve of the talks, US particular envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism in regards to the probabilities for ending Europe’s deadliest battle because the Second World Warfare.

The destiny of presently Russia-occupied Ukrainian territory can be one of many key areas of dialogue on the talks in Saudi Arabia right this moment.

Russian forces have illegally occupied one-fifth of Ukraine since they launched the full-scale navy invasion over three years in the past.

Trump’s nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz was requested yesterday if the US would settle for a peace deal wherein Russia was allowed to maintain Ukrainian territory.

He replied: “We now have to ask ourselves, is it in our nationwide curiosity? Is it lifelike?… Are we going to drive each Russian off of each inch of Ukrainian soil?”

Ukraine says it already recognises that it can not recapture some occupied Ukrainian territory by pressure and that it must be returned diplomatically over time.

Kyiv says, nonetheless, that it’ll by no means recognise Russian sovereignty over Ukrainian territory.

US officers are because of meet negotiators from Ukraine and from Russia in Saudi Arabia right this moment to debate the main points of a proposed 30-day ceasefire on strikes on vitality infrastructure, in addition to a longer-term peace deal.

The halt on infrastructure assaults was loosely agreed in talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump final week, with a 30-day timeline.

However that narrowly outlined ceasefire was rapidly forged into doubt, with Moscow saying Ukraine hit an oil depot in southern Russia whereas Kyiv stated Russia had struck hospitals and houses, and knocked out energy to some railways.

Final week Mr Zelensky stated Kyiv would draw up a listing of amenities that may very well be topic to the partial ceasefire. That checklist might embody not solely vitality, but in addition rail and port infrastructure, he stated.

A moratorium on vitality infrastructure strikes might favour Moscow greater than Kyiv, given it will forestall Ukraine from conducting long-range strikes on Russian oil amenities, a key approach that it has inflicted ache on its enemy.

The digital hum within the sky above advised him that the Russians have been on a searching safari and that he was the prey. Leaping from his bicycle, Oleksandr left its wheels spinning as he bolted by means of a gap in a fence hoping to seek out cowl.

Horrified to find he was nonetheless within the open air, he threw himself in opposition to the fence, hoping to mix in, to someway disguise. The drone tracked sideways, hung above him, and dropped its bomb.

The explosion tore a piece of his leg away.

Ukrainians residing in bombed-out Kherson inform world affairs editor Sam Kiley how Russian drones goal them as they go about their day by day lives – and the way their brutal accidents are cared for in a hospital pressured underground:

Russia’s air defence items intercepted and destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones in a single day, the Russian defence ministry stated this morning.

Of those, 12 drones have been downed every over the border Kursk area and the southern Russia Rostov area, the ministry stated on its Telegram channel.

The remaining 4 have been destroyed over Crimea, the Krasnodar area and the waters of the Sea of Azov, the ministry added.

A US delegation is about to carry one other spherical of ceasefire talks right this moment in Saudi Arabia, as officers from the Trump administration meet individually with each Ukrainian and Russian representatives of their bid to finish the warfare in Ukraine.

“I believe that you’ll see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some actual progress, significantly because it impacts a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between each international locations. And from that, you will naturally gravitate right into a full-on taking pictures ceasefire,” the US particular envoy Steve Witkoff stated.

White Home nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz stated america was speaking by means of a spread of confidence-building measures geared toward ending the warfare, together with on the way forward for Ukrainian youngsters taken into Russia.

Requested in regards to the targets for the broader negotiations, Mr Waltz stated that after a Black Sea ceasefire was agreed “we’ll discuss the road of management, which is the precise entrance traces”.

“And that will get into the main points of verification mechanisms, peacekeeping, freezing the traces the place they’re,” he stated. “After which in fact, the broader and everlasting peace.”