Trump's envoy Witkoff announces new round of peace talks in Jeddah on 23 March
Steve Witkoff, Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, has announced that talks on a ceasefire will continue on 23 March in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Source: Witkoff in an interview with Fox News
Details: Witkoff said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Trump's National Security Adviser Mike Waltz would again travel to Saudi Arabia.
The main topic of the meeting is the details of the agreements, particularly regarding a 30-day ceasefire.
When asked about the cessation of strikes on energy infrastructure and targets in the Black Sea, Witkoff said that "both of those are now agreed to by the Russians".
"I am certainly hopeful that the Ukrainians will agree to it," he stated.
Quote: "We have some details to work out of course, but that will begin on Sunday in Jeddah, and beyond that, we will move to a full ceasefire and we had some very good conversation today on the ingredients to achieve that."
Details: Witkoff added that the US-proposed 30-day ceasefire should cover "energy and infrastructure in general".
It is currently unknown who will represent Ukraine in these talks. Russia has also not officially announced negotiations with the US on 23 March.
Background:
- US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation on 18 March, which lasted over an hour and a half.
- The Kremlin press service reported that, following the call between Trump and Putin, the Russian side insisted that foreign military assistance and intelligence information to Ukraine should be stopped.
- During a phone conversation, Trump and Putin agreed that peace negotiations regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war will "begin immediately in the Middle East".
- The Kremlin, in turn, stated that during his conversation with Trump, Putin once again rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire but instead agreed to refrain from attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, "issuing the relevant order to the Russian military".
- However, Russia conducted a large-scale kamikaze drone attack on the night of 18-19 March, striking civilian infrastructure in several Ukrainian oblasts.
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