AS FRESH FIGHTING RAGES US, Russia talks on Ukraine ends

A meeting between Russian and US officials on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine ended after 12 hours of negotiations in Saudi Arabia, Russian state media said, as both sides in the conflict reported a wave of fresh attacks.

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While the talks took place at a luxury hotel in Riyadh, nearly 90 people including 17 children were wounded in a missile attack Monday on Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The attack on a “densely populated residential area” damaged apartments and an educational facility, the regional prosecutor’s office said. The city’s acting mayor earlier said a hospital had been affected.

Russian media meanwhile said two journalists and their driver were killed when their car was struck “in the zone of the special military operation”, using Moscow’s term for its full-scale offensive in Ukraine.

President Donald Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the three-year war and hopes the latest round of talks in the Saudi capital will pave the way for a breakthrough.

The Ukrainian negotiating team was staying in Riyadh for another day to meet with US representatives, a source in the delegation told Suspilne news, with another source also telling AFP a second meeting was likely --a sign that progress may have been made.

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency cited a source as saying that the meeting with the US had ended after “more than 12 hours of consultations” and that a joint statement on the results would be published Tuesday.

‘TRUMP’S PROPOSAL’