US and Russian officials held talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday aimed at sealing a Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal before a wider ceasefire agreement in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv used drones to pound each other.
The talks, which followed US negotiations with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, came after Russia launched its third consecutive overnight air attack on Kyiv, wounding one person and damaging houses in the region around the Ukrainian capital.
Russia, for its part, said it had downed 227 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, as firefighters in its southern Krasnodar region battled for a fifth day to put out a blaze at an oil depot struck in a Ukrainian drone attack last week.
US President Donald Trump has intensified his drive to end the three-year-old conflict after he last week spoke to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The White House says the aim of the Saudi talks is to reach a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, allowing the free flow of shipping, though the area has not been the location of intense military operations in recent months and it was not clear if the talks would swiftly result in a new agreement or if they were designed to give the sides cover to discuss a wider agenda.
“This is primarily about the safety of navigation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, noting that a 2022 agreement on Black Sea shipping had failed to deliver what it had promised to Moscow.
The focus on the Black Sea is a much narrower one than a broad 30-day ceasefire agreement that the US proposed in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, an indication that Russia may still be some way from agreeing to any significant pause in fighting.
Ukraine has inflicted significant damage on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since 2022, forcing Moscow to move some vessels out of its base in Crimea.
Despite Russian attacks on its ports, Ukraine has been able to export grain, iron ore and other commodities via the Black Sea from its three main seaports in its Odesa region at levels similar to those before the war.
Eurozone business activity grew at its fastest pace in seven months in March, although growth stayed weak.
It has not been able to use the port of Mykolaiv, another one-time major export hub, however, and Zelenskiy called on EU leaders earlier this month to support the idea of a truce at sea and in the air.
