New York [US], March 19 : The United States expects Ukraine to support agreements reached during a recent phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, as ceasefire talks are set to begin in Jeddah on Sunday, according to Trump's Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, TASS Russian News Agency reported.
In an interview with Fox News, Witkoff described his discussions with Putin, saying, "I had two meetings with President Putin. The first one was for somewhere close to three and a half hours, and the second one was close to four hours."
He continued, "They were both compelling. I thought we accomplished quite a bit, and in the second meeting, we actually really narrowed the issues, certainly from the Russian standpoint, we were immediately in discussions on tangible, granular ways to move forward towards a ceasefire that included what you've heard about today, which is the ceasefire with regard to energy infrastructure from both sides, something they've been trying to put together for quite some time."
He also highlighted another key component of the negotiations, stating, "And secondly, what people colloquially refer to as the Black Sea, maritime aspect of a ceasefire. I think both of those are now agreed to by the Russians. I am certainly hopeful that the Ukrainians will agree to it."
Witkoff confirmed that while progress had been made, there were still unresolved details that would be addressed during the upcoming talks, reported TASS.
"The sides have some details to work out, of course, but that will begin on Sunday in Jeddah."
He expressed confidence that discussions would advance further, explaining, "And beyond that, we'll move to a full ceasefire, and we had some very good conversation today on the ingredients to achieve that. So all in all, really positive results."
The US delegation to Jeddah will be led by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Witkoff noted that recent discussions had successfully overcome obstacles that had previously hindered progress.
"We've got to figure out the details. The point is that 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," he said.
Regarding Putin's stance on the matter, Witkoff stated, "President Putin - and I would commend him for this - said that he agreed with the President's posture on it all. He agreed with the approach. He didn't want to see more people dying in the field."
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