US holds separate talks with Russians after meeting Ukrainians to
discuss a potential ceasefire
[March 25, 2025]
By JON GAMBRELL and ILLIA NOVIKOV
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. negotiators worked on a proposed
partial ceasefire in the 3-year-old war in Ukraine on Monday, meeting
representatives from Russia one day after holding separate talks with a
team from Kyiv.
It has been a struggle to reach even a limited, 30-day ceasefire — which
Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week -- with both sides
continuing to attack each other with drones and missiles.
One major sticking point is what targets would be off-limits to strike,
even after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’
leaders, because the parties disagree.
While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered,
the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to
“energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has
said he would also like to see infrastructure like railways and ports
protected.
Talks Monday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh were expected to address
some of those differences, as well as a potential pause in attacks in
the Black Sea to ensure the safety of commercial shipping. Russian state
media reported late Monday local time that the talks had ended.
In an exchange with reporters at the White House, Trump said territorial
lines and the potential for U.S. ownership of a key nuclear power plant
in southern Ukraine have been part of the talks.
Last week, Trump floated the idea of the U.S. taking control of the
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The six-reactor facility — one of the
world's largest — was seized by Russia early in the war.
“Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant —
work it that way because we have the expertise” to get the plant
operating, Trump said. “Something like that would be fine with me.”
Since falling under Russian control, the plant’s conditions have
deteriorated. While its reactors have been shut down for years, they
still require power and staff to maintain cooling systems and safety
features. The facility is connected to Ukraine’s energy grid without
producing electricity.
U.S. and Russian representatives met in the morning in Riyadh, Russia’s
state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported. The U.S. and
Ukrainian teams met Sunday.
Serhii Leshchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, said the
delegation remained in Riyadh on Monday and expected to meet again with
the Americans. In his nightly address Monday, Zelenskyy said
representatives from Ukraine and the U.S. will meet again, although he
did not specify when.
Grigory Karasin, head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian
parliament’s upper house and a participant in Monday’s talks, told the
Interfax news agency the negotiations were going on in a “creative way"
and that the U.S. and Russian delegations “understand each other’s
views.”
Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine continued to launch attacks across
their borders.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday a Ukrainian drone attacked an
oil pumping station in southern Russia that serves a pipeline carrying
Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea oil to the Russian port of Novorossiisk for
export. It said the drone was downed before it could reach the pumping
station.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday the Russian military has
been fulfilling President Vladimir Putin’s order to halt attacks on
energy facilities for 30 days. He has accused Ukraine of derailing the
partial ceasefire with attacks on Russia’s energy facilities, including
a gas metering station in Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukraine’s military General Staff rejected Moscow’s accusations and
blamed the Russian military for shelling the station, a claim Peskov
called “absurd.”
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In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service,
firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Donetsk
region, Ukraine, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency
Service via AP)
Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that "since March 11, a proposal for
an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table, and these attacks
could have already stopped. But it is Russia that continues all
this.”
He added that Ukraine's partners — “the U.S., Europe, and others
around the world” — should increase pressure on Russia “to stop this
terror.”
Zelenskyy has emphasized that Ukraine is open to Trump's proposal of
a full, 30-day ceasefire. Putin has made a complete ceasefire
conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of
Ukraine’s military mobilization — demands rejected by Kyiv and its
Western allies.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff
said he expected “some real progress” at talks and that a pause in
hostilities by both countries in the Black Sea would “naturally
gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.”
China rules out supplying peacekeeping forces
Asked about reports speculating that China might send peacekeepers
to Ukraine to enforce any peace deal, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded Monday with an unequivocal no.
“Let me stress that the report is completely false. China’s position
on the Ukraine crisis is clear and consistent,” Guo said at a
briefing.
China has provided Russia with trade earnings from oil and other
natural resources, along with diplomatic backing, but has not given
any weapons or sent any personnel. China is, however, on close terms
with North Korea, which has sent troops to fight alongside the
Russian army.
Ukrainian railways hit by cyberattack
A “massive targeted cyberattack” hit Ukrainian state railway
operator Ukrzaliznytsia on Sunday, the company wrote on Telegram,
adding that it was working to restore its systems on Monday. The
company said the attack did not affect train movements or schedules
but disrupted its online booking system.
“The railway continues to operate despite physical attacks on the
infrastructure, and even the most vile cyberattacks cannot stop it,”
the company wrote.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Special Operations Forces claimed Monday it
destroyed four military helicopters in Russia's Belgorod region with
the use of U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems. It published drone
footage on its Telegram page of what it said was the attack.
The strikes occurred at a concealed “jumping-off point” for Russian
aircraft used in surprise attacks on Ukrainian forces, the group
said.
A Russian missile struck the northern city of Sumy, across the
border from Russia's Kursk region, hitting residential buildings and
a school, said regional head Volodymyr Artiukh. Children at the
school were being evacuated at the time, and all were safe, he
added.
But the regional prosecutor's office said 65 people were injured,
including 14 children.
Earlier, Russia fired 99 attack and decoy drones into Ukraine
overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force, of which 57 were shot
down.
___
Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers
Christopher Bodeen in Beijing and Aamer Madhani in Washington
contributed.
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