Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia and the United States could hold talks “in the coming days” after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had “very good” phone conversations with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
It may not be Sunday itself. The final nuances are being agreed now, it’s the beginning of next week, the very beginning, that’s what will be known. Well, indeed, we are talking about the very next days.
Peskov stressed that Trump and Putin discussed the need for future talks during their conversation.
Indeed, we expect that the talks will continue at the expert level in the coming days.
On Wednesday, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and White House national security adviser Mike Waltz also discussed who could represent Russia and the United States in expert-level talks on Ukraine, Peskov added.
The topic [the composition of negotiators on Ukraine] was mentioned, indeed. And yesterday [19 March] it was also discussed during a telephone conversation between Ushakov and his counterpart, Mr Waltz.
Peskov said that Moscow would “timely” inform who will represent Russia at the next talks with the US in Saudi Arabia.
Putin and Trump had a telephone conversation on 18 March, during which the US president put forward a proposal on mutual refusal of the parties to the conflict in Ukraine to launch 30-day strikes on energy infrastructure facilities. Trump subsequently held a conversation with Zelensky.
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that much of his hour-long phone conversation with Zelensky focused on what was discussed the day before with Putin. The purpose of Wednesday’s conversation was to reconcile the positions of Russia and Ukraine “in terms of their requests and needs,” the US leader said.
He also said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Waltz would soon release an “accurate description of the points discussed.”
European response
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that if Russia does not come to the negotiating table, “then we need to strain every sinew to ramp up economic pressure on Russia to secure an end to this war.” Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Europe must continue to strongly support Ukraine, regardless of any negotiations between Washington and Moscow, to ensure that Kyiv is in a strong position.
That means Ukraine can defend its independence and sovereignty, that it decides its own path and chooses its own leaders, and naturally, that it has a strong army in peacetime.
He added that the debt package agreed by a likely future German coalition to finance increased defence and infrastructure spending was a key part of the initiative. At the same time, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas suggested that support for Ukraine should be demonstrated by action, especially in the form of ammunition, which Kyiv needs.
If you listen to the statements of the leaders, then the support is very much there, and that is why it should also be seen in deeds, in numbers, in actual ammunition that Ukraine needs. So I’m really hopeful that we will push this forward.
Bloomberg, however, noted that French President Emmanuel Macron’s desire to continue supporting Ukraine could lead to conflict with Trump, who is trying to end the war.
Zelensky’s reaction
After a roughly hour-long conversation with Trump on Wednesday, Zelensky told reporters that the “technical” Ukraine-US talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend would focus on deciding what types of infrastructure would be protected under the agreement. The Ukrainian leader has previously said he wants the partial ceasefire to also cover railways and ports.
One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure. I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it.
According to a White House statement, during the conversation, Trump suggested that Zelensky consider transferring Ukraine’s power plants to US ownership to ensure their long-term security.
American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure.
Commenting on the future talks between the US and Russia, Zelensky’s administration said that Ukraine would not participate in the negotiation process. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader said that the future meeting of Russian and Ukrainian delegations would not be a “big problem.”
You know, it’s not a big problem. There would be a result. I believe that if the sides work out technical solutions, if there is political will, first of all on the part of the Russians … the meeting is not a problem.
While European leaders are hosting another round of meetings to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, the US and Russia will soon meet in Saudi Arabia for the next phase of talks to substantively discuss the details of ending the war and paving the way for a sustainable peace.
