Separate peace talks, US-Russia confrontation in Riyadh: Trump wants truce by Easter
Washington's goal is to achieve an immediate partial ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, followed by a comprehensive peace agreement

by Benedetta Guerrera

March 24, 2025

A symbolic date, April 20, when both Catholic and Orthodox Easter will fall. With this limit on the horizon to achieve peace in Ukraine, talks between Donald Trump's team and Volodymyr Zelensky's team took place in Saudi Arabia, ahead of the meeting between Washington and Moscow's representatives today. "The discussion was productive and focused: we addressed key points, including energy," reported Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who heads the Kiev team, at the end of the meeting with the American delegation.

"President Volodymyr Zelensky's goal is to secure a just and lasting peace for our country and our people, and, by extension, for all of Europe. We are working to make this goal a reality."

The US president and his team, special envoy Steve Witkoff, have sounded optimistic about ending Europe's worst conflict since World War II, despite renewed mutual attacks on the ground, but have slammed British- and French-led efforts to shore up Ukraine's defenses and Europe's plan to build long-term security guarantees as "posturing." "Putin doesn't want to conquer all of Europe. The situation is very different today than it was in World War II," the tycoon's right-hand man for foreign policy said, arguing that the Kremlin leader is "not a bad person, he's very intelligent." "I have the impression that he wants peace," Witkoff told Fox News, saying he was confident that Monday's talks with Moscow would yield "concrete progress" such as "a first ceasefire in the Black Sea that will then lead to a full truce."

The Kremlin has scaled down American expectations for a quick resolution to the conflict, saying that negotiations with the United States "will be difficult." "We are only at the beginning of this path," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, confirming however that Moscow's "main" focus will be on resuming an agreement to ensure safe navigation for commercial ships in the Black Sea, especially for grain, as has already been the case between 2022 and 2023.

Announcing the start of the Riyadh talks, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Kiev delegation, said on Facebook: "We are implementing our president's directive to move closer to a just peace and strengthen security." Zelensky, who in his usual evening speech called the ongoing talks in Riyadh with the Americans "useful," continued to push for "sanctions against Russian terrorists. New solutions and new pressure on Moscow are needed to stop these attacks and this war. We need to strengthen Ukraine and our army: more air defense and real assistance," the Ukrainian leader urged, commenting on Moscow's attacks over the past 48 hours.
Ukrainian authorities reported that a Russian drone attack in Kiev overnight killed at least three people, including a 5-year-old boy, causing fires in buildings and damage throughout the capital. Meanwhile, Russian air defenses said their air defenses destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones targeting the country's southwestern regions, adding that the strikes killed one person in Rostov.

A situation of very high tension, far from the peace in the short term hoped for by Trump. The American president has, however, assured that efforts "to avoid a further escalation of the conflict are underway". "I have a good relationship with Putin and Zelensky and no one else, apart from me, is capable of stopping the war in Ukraine", reiterated the commander-in-chief who is already thinking of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "Obama got it for no reason, he didn't even know it, he didn't do anything. If I were a democratic president I would win it".