Beirut, 25 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The United States and Russia agreed on a joint statement at talks about the war in Ukraine on Monday, Russian media reported.

The joint statement is to be published on Tuesday, the state-run news agencies TASS and Ria Novosti reported, citing sources from the Russian delegation. No further details were given.

Representatives of the US and Russia were in talks for around 12 hours in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The meeting, held behind closed doors at the Ritz Carlton hotel, was supposed to focus on securing a ceasefire as the first step towards ending more than three years of fighting in Ukraine.

The Russian delegation was led by Grigory Karasin, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian Federation Council, and Sergey Beseda, a senior intelligence official and close confidant of President Vladimir Putin.

Joint statement was not expected

Earlier on Monday, Karasin was vague about the prospect of an agreement, saying "not every negotiation has to end with extensive documents and agreements."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also previously told TASS that no documents were planned.

Karasin emphasized that it is important to stay in constant contact and to understand the other side's point of view. "We are succeeding in doing that," he said.

The US delegation in Saudi Arabia includes multiple teams, with both US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz present.

The US representatives already held initial talks with the Ukrainian negotiating team on Sunday, which Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov described as "constructive and informative."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the US-Russian meeting would be followed by another round of talks between US and Ukrainian representatives.

Ahead of the talks, Kellogg had described the process as "shuttle diplomacy," designed to bring the positions of the warring parties closer together in order to stop the war in Ukraine.

While Ukraine has endorsed US President Donald Trump's proposal for a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire, Putin has set several preconditions, including a demand that the West halt all military aid to Kiev.

Both Russia and Ukraine have already agreed in principle to a truce on attacks on energy facilities, but it has yet to be implemented.

Photo: EPA