US, Russia Hold Black Sea Ceasefire Talks After Overnight Strikes Pound Kyiv

Aim is to allow free flow of shipping, says US, before securing wider deal in Ukraine

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RIYADH — US and Russian officials held talks in Saudi Arabia on March 24 aimed at sealing a Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal before securing a wider agreement in Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv used drones to pound each other.

The talks, which followed US talks with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on March 23, came after Russia launched its third consecutive overnight air attack on Kyiv, wounding one person and damaging houses in the region around the Ukrainian capital.

Russia, for its part, said it had downed 227 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, as firefighters in its southern Krasnodar region battled for a fifth day to put out a blaze at an oil depot struck in a Ukrainian drone attack last week.

US President Donald Trump has intensified his drive to end the three-year-old conflict after he last week spoke to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The White House says the aim of the talks is to reach a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, allowing the free flow of shipping, though the area has not been the location of intense military operations in recent months.

"This is primarily about the safety of navigation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, noting that an earlier agreement on Black Sea shipping brokered in 2022 had failed to deliver what it had promised Moscow.