U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on March 18 that diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Russia will take place on March 23 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The discussions, led by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will focus on key details regarding the ceasefire.
It remains unclear whether Ukraine will be invited to the talks.
“Up until recently, we really didn’t have consensus around these two aspects – the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing – and today we got to that place, and I think it’s a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there,” Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, said on air.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a 30-day halt on strikes against energy infrastructure during a call with Trump, according to a Kremlin readout issued on March 18.
The statement followed the 1.5-hour phone call between Putin and Trump, during which they discussed ending the war in Ukraine and the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire to allow for further peace talks.
“During the conversation, Donald Trump proposed a mutual refusal of the parties to the conflict to strike for 30 days on energy infrastructure facilities,” the statement read. “Vladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the appropriate command to the Russian military.”
The Kremlin also said Putin “responded constructively to Donald Trump’s idea of implementing a well-known initiative concerning the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.”
“It was agreed to begin negotiations to further elaborate specific details of such an agreement,” the statement added.
