Iryna Nesterova15:23, 27.03.25

The Russian negotiators said that they allegedly did not have a mandate to discuss this issue.

During negotiations with the United States in Saudi Arabia, the Russians refused to talk about stopping strikes on civilian infrastructure, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva said in an interview with Ukrinform .

“We talked separately about civilian infrastructure – about residential buildings, schools, kindergartens, and so on. What did Russia do? During the negotiations, as far as we understand from the information from the American side, they refused to talk about civilian infrastructure at all,” the official explained.

According to him, the Russian negotiators argued their decision to the American delegation, claiming that they did not have a mandate to discuss this issue.

As for strikes on energy infrastructure, the Russians, says Zhovkva, provided their list of targets, which is “much smaller and narrower than ours.”

“The American side did not agree to this list, because again, like the statement about the alleged conditions of a truce in the Black Sea, it was published only in Russian. It is not on the website of the White House or the US State Department. This is some kind of list compiled by the Russians in accordance with their wishes,” the deputy head of the Presidential Office noted.

Negotiations in Saudi Arabia: important news

As UNIAN previously reported, the US-Russia agreement on the Black Sea lacks one key point , according to advisor to the head of the OP, Mykhailo Podolyak, namely, according to him, there is no clear liability for violating the agreement. And without this, he says, it will not be possible to force Russia to fulfill the agreements. 

The Guardian called the Black Sea deal a wish list for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. It said the deal, brokered by American negotiators in Saudi Arabia, offered the Kremlin concession after concession, but in reality Russia had done nothing to back up its initial demand for sanctions relief.

On the eve of the meeting, US President Donald Trump admitted that Russia is “holding back” on a peace agreement with Ukraine . He admitted that Russia is “playing for time” and trying to delay the achievement of a full ceasefire. However, he added that he still believes that Moscow ultimately wants an end to the war.

(C)UNIAN 2025