The negotiations this week have begun to bear some fruit, but agreements are scarce on the future of a cease-fire agreement.
Negotiators for the United States, Russia, and Ukraine have been locked in intense diplomacy in Saudi Arabia this week as Washington seeks to wrangle a peace between the two warring nations.
President Donald Trump’s attempts to fulfill a key campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine have thus far been stymied, however, as Kyiv and Moscow work to shore up their negotiating positions ahead of a possible cease-fire deal.
Further contacts between American officials and their counterparts from Russia and Ukraine are likely to follow in the coming days, though no concrete plans have yet been laid.
Here’s a look at where negotiations for a limited cease-fire in Ukraine currently stand.
Disagreements Over Cease-Fire Terms
The most recent rounds of talks on March 24 struggled to lay the groundwork for a limited, 30-day cease-fire that would temporarily halt at least some of the fighting.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have balked at the other’s terms for such a deal, and have thus far failed to agree with the United States on which types of targets should be included or excluded from a limited cease-fire.
An initial deal, agreed to by leadership from both Ukraine and Russia last week, sought to halt attacks on civilian energy infrastructure for 30 days.
That deal was almost immediately violated, with officials in both countries accusing the other of breaching the truce by sabotaging an oil facility in a part of Russia occupied by Ukrainian troops.
Since then, Russia has conducted a massive cyberattack on Ukraine’s civilian railway system and missile attacks against targets in residential neighborhoods.
While that initial deal dealt only with energy infrastructure, Ukrainian leadership expressed a desire to extend the cease-fire to ports and rail infrastructure.
To that end, the White House announced this week that Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to a deal that would at least partially halt attacks on maritime targets as the United States moves to reopen trade ties with Russia.
