Trump adviser Waltz speaks with Russians about peace talks in Riyadh

US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has stated that he spoke with Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, regarding interactions between Washington and Moscow on 19 March.

Waltz noted that he had spoken with his "Russian counterpart Yuri Ushakov about President Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine".

"We agreed our technical teams would meet in Riyadh in the coming days to focus on implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia," he wrote on X.

The White House announced that a new round of talks on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine would take place on 23 March in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Following a conversation between Putin and Trump on 18 March, Washington also said that peace talks regarding the Russo-Ukrainian war will "begin immediately in the Middle East".

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy stressed that Putin had effectively rejected the proposal for a complete ceasefire by launching a large-scale drone attack on Ukrainian cities on the night of 18-19 March.