Where the Ukraine–Russia Cease-Fire Stands After US-led Talks

The negotiations this week have begun to bear some fruit, but agreements are scarce on the future of a cease-fire agreement.

Service members of Ukraine's 117th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces operate a Ukrainian-made 120mm mortar near Russian positions in the Sumy region of Ukraine on March 9, 2025. Diego Fedele/Getty Images

Negotiators for the United States, Russia, and Ukraine have been locked in intense diplomacy in Saudi Arabia this week as Washington seeks to wrangle a peace between the two warring nations.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to fulfill a key campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine have thus far been stymied, as Kyiv and Moscow work to shore up their negotiating positions ahead of a possible cease-fire deal.

Further contacts between U.S. officials and their counterparts from Russia and Ukraine are likely to follow in the coming days, although no concrete plans have yet been laid.

Here is a look at where negotiations for a limited cease-fire in Ukraine currently stand.

Disagreements Over Cease-Fire Terms

The most recent rounds of talks on March 24 struggled to lay the groundwork for a limited, 30-day cease-fire that would temporarily halt at least some of the fighting.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have balked at the other’s terms for such a deal, and have thus far failed to agree with the United States on which types of targets should be included or excluded from a limited cease-fire.

An initial deal, which leadership from both Ukraine and Russia agreed to last week, sought to halt attacks on civilian energy infrastructure for 30 days.

That deal was almost immediately violated, with officials in each country accusing the other of breaching the truce by sabotaging an oil facility in a part of Russia occupied by Ukrainian troops.

Since then, Russia has conducted a massive cyberattack on Ukraine’s civilian railway system and missile attacks against targets in residential neighborhoods.

While that initial deal dealt only with energy infrastructure, Ukrainian leadership expressed a desire to extend the cease-fire to ports and rail infrastructure.

To that end, the White House announced this week that Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to a deal that would at least partially halt attacks on maritime targets as the United States moves to reopen trade ties with Russia.

Maritime Security Deal in the Works

The White House stated that the initial aim of the talks in Saudi Arabia this week was to secure a maritime truce in the Black Sea, allowing the free flow of shipping to resume in the region.

The deal is essentially a successor to the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by Turkey in 2022, which Russia unilaterally withdrew from in 2023.

That deal allowed for the export of grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers by Ukraine and Russia through the Black Sea along specially created corridors, as long as the vessels carrying those goods were inspected by international forces.

The export of grain and other food items has been a key concern among nations throughout the world since Russia first launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Russia and Ukraine combined accounted for $12 billion in wheat exports in 2021, or roughly 21.6 percent of the global total, and the war has weakened food security in developing nations considerably.

Both Kyiv and Moscow have agreed in principle to the deal worked out this week but have not signed a formal agreement.

Where Kyiv and Moscow Stand

Both Kyiv and Moscow have continued to provide verbal support for a cease-fire deal, although both have also underscored that current efforts fall far short of their demands for a lasting peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reaffirmed that a lasting peace would require Ukraine to stop pursuing NATO membership and to give up four eastern territories that Russia currently occupies.

Those demands are nevertheless something of a walk back from Putin’s initially stated war aims at the beginning of the invasion, when the Russian leader said he would seek the total demilitarization of Ukraine and its rendering into a politically neutral state.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also expressed skepticism of the current frameworks, saying that a lasting peace would require foreign peacekeeping forces, NATO or otherwise, to ensure that Russia will not invade again after the war is over.

Putin has said no foreign troops of any kind can be allowed on Ukrainian soil if Russia is to agree to a cease-fire.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has reluctantly agreed to U.S. cease-fire talks without security guarantees from Washington following a brief cessation of U.S. aid earlier in the month.

For its part, the Trump administration has positioned itself to reap rewards from increased trade with Russia and is currently putting pressure on Ukraine to hand over access to billions of dollars’ worth of rare earth metals and control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants in exchange for past and ongoing military aid from the United States.

Kursk Presents Hurdle to Talks

A key hurdle to good-faith negotiations is the continued combat in Kursk, a region of Russia that has in part been occupied by Ukrainian troops since August 2024.

Ukraine has poured an immense amount of manpower and materiel into Kursk in an attempt to hold on to the best bargaining chip it has.

Zelenskyy said in February that he would be willing to trade the territory for some of Ukraine’s occupied lands but has thus far been rebuffed by Moscow.

Putin has meanwhile delayed accepting U.S. requests for a cease-fire while he seeks to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk completely, thereby hoping to deprive Kyiv of a key advantage ahead of more serious negotiations.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.