Witkoff: "U.S. and Russia talks set for March 23 in Jeddah"

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on March 18 that diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Russia will take place on March 23 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The discussions, led by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will focus on key details regarding the ceasefire. Witkoff did not specify who the U.S. delegation would be meeting with, and it remains uncertain whether Ukraine will be included in the talks.
"Up until recently, we really didn't have consensus around these two aspects - the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing - and today we got to that place, and I think it's a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there," Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, said on air.
"I am certainly hopeful that the Ukrainians will agree to it", Witkoff said
Witkoff underlined that during his last meeting with Putin, they "made a lot of progress."
"I point to the large gap that existed between Ukraine and Russia prior to the inauguration and where we are today. We have narrowed the issues between both of these parties, making a lot of progress" Witkoff told CBS News .
On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a 30-day halt on strikes against energy infrastructure during a call with Trump, according to a Kremlin.
The Kremlin said that "during the conversation, Donald Trump proposed a mutual refusal of the parties to the conflict to strike for 30 days on energy infrastructure facilities."
It was agreed to begin negotiations to further elaborate specific details of such an agreement.