Talks on Ceasefire Between Ukraine and Russia to Resume in Saudi Arabia on March 23, Witkoff Says

Special Envoy of US President Donald Trump for Middle East affairs, Steve Witkoff, announced that ceasefire negotiations will resume on March 23 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

According to Witkoff, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz will once again travel to Saudi Arabia for the talks.

The main focus of the upcoming meeting will be to work out the details of the agreements, particularly concerning the proposed 30-day ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

“Up until recently, we really didn’t have consensus around these two aspects, the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing, and today we got to that place, and I think it’s a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there,” Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News on March 18.

“I think both of those are now agreed to by the Russians. I am certainly hopeful that the Ukrainians will agree to it.”

Witkoff did not clarify whom the US delegation will meet with, and it remains unclear whether Ukrainian representatives will take part in the negotiations.

On March 18, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. In response to Donald Trump’s proposal for a temporary ceasefire, the Russian side agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days.