The meeting comes one day after discussions between a US contingent – led by officials from the State Department, the National Security Council and members of Ukraine Special Envoy Keith Kellogg’s team – and Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, which were described by the latter as “productive and focused.”

Negotiations spearheaded by a US delegation for a partial Russia-Ukraine ceasefire are underway in Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin has said. The talks in Riyadh between a US delegation and Russian negotiators started on Monday morning.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia and the United States had a common understanding on the need to move towards a settlement to end the war in Ukraine but that there are still many different aspects that need to be worked out.