US holds separate talks with Russians after meeting Ukrainians to discuss a potential ceasefire

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. negotiators worked on a proposed partial ceasefire in the 3-year-old war in Ukraine on Monday, meeting representatives from Russia one day after holding separate talks with a team from Kyiv.

It has been a struggle to reach even a limited, 30-day ceasefire — which Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week -- with both sides continuing to attack each other with drones and missiles.

One major sticking point is what targets would be off-limits to strike, even after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders, because the parties disagree.

While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would also like to see infrastructure like railways and ports protected.

Talks Monday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh were expected to address some of those differences, as well as a potential pause in attacks in the Black Sea to ensure the safety of commercial shipping. Russian state media reported late Monday local time that the talks had ended.

In an exchange with reporters at the White House, Trump said territorial lines and the potential for U.S. ownership of a key nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine have been part of the talks.

Last week, Trump floated the idea of the U.S. taking control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The six-reactor facility — one of the world's largest — was seized by Russia early in the war.

“Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant — work it that way because we have the expertise” to get the plant operating, Trump said. “Something like that would be fine with me.”

Since falling under Russian control, the plant’s conditions have deteriorated. While its reactors have been shut down for years, they still require power and staff to maintain cooling systems and safety features. The facility is connected to Ukraine’s energy grid without producing electricity.

U.S. and Russian representatives met in the morning in Riyadh, Russia’s state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported. The U.S. and Ukrainian teams met Sunday.

Serhii Leshchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, said the delegation remained in Riyadh on Monday and expected to meet again with the Americans. In his nightly address Monday, Zelenskyy said representatives from Ukraine and the U.S. will meet again, although he did not specify when.

Grigory Karasin, head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian parliament’s upper house and a participant in Monday’s talks, told the Interfax news agency the negotiations were going on in a “creative way" and that the U.S. and Russian delegations “understand each other’s views.”

Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine continued to launch attacks across their borders.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday a Ukrainian drone attacked an oil pumping station in southern Russia that serves a pipeline carrying Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea oil to the Russian port of Novorossiisk for export. It said the drone was downed before it could reach the pumping station.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday the Russian military has been fulfilling President Vladimir Putin’s order to halt attacks on energy facilities for 30 days. He has accused Ukraine of derailing the partial ceasefire with attacks on Russia’s energy facilities, including a gas metering station in Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region.

Ukraine’s military General Staff rejected Moscow’s accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the station, a claim Peskov called “absurd.”

Zelenskyy said Sunday evening that "since March 11, a proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table, and these attacks could have already stopped. But it is Russia that continues all this.”

He added that Ukraine's partners — “the U.S., Europe, and others around the world” — should increase pressure on Russia “to stop this terror.”

Zelenskyy has emphasized that Ukraine is open to Trump's proposal of a full, 30-day ceasefire. Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine’s military mobilization — demands rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said he expected “some real progress” at talks and that a pause in hostilities by both countries in the Black Sea would “naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.”

Asked about reports speculating that China might send peacekeepers to Ukraine to enforce any peace deal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded Monday with an unequivocal no.

“Let me stress that the report is completely false. China’s position on the Ukraine crisis is clear and consistent,” Guo said at a briefing.

China has provided Russia with trade earnings from oil and other natural resources, along with diplomatic backing, but has not given any weapons or sent any personnel. China is, however, on close terms with North Korea, which has sent troops to fight alongside the Russian army.

A “massive targeted cyberattack” hit Ukrainian state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia on Sunday, the company wrote on Telegram, adding that it was working to restore its systems on Monday. The company said the attack did not affect train movements or schedules but disrupted its online booking system.

“The railway continues to operate despite physical attacks on the infrastructure, and even the most vile cyberattacks cannot stop it,” the company wrote.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Special Operations Forces claimed Monday it destroyed four military helicopters in Russia's Belgorod region with the use of U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems. It published drone footage on its Telegram page of what it said was the attack.

The strikes occurred at a concealed “jumping-off point” for Russian aircraft used in surprise attacks on Ukrainian forces, the group said.

A Russian missile struck the northern city of Sumy, across the border from Russia's Kursk region, hitting residential buildings and a school, said regional head Volodymyr Artiukh. Children at the school were being evacuated at the time, and all were safe, he added.

But the regional prosecutor's office said 65 people were injured, including 14 children.

Earlier, Russia fired 99 attack and decoy drones into Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force, of which 57 were shot down.

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Christopher Bodeen in Beijing and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, soldiers operate an FPV drones in a shelter in Kramatorsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier gets ready to fire FPV drones towards Russian positions in a shelter in Kramatorsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this photo taken on March 21, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service on March 24, 2025, servicemen attend a dedication ceremony for soldiers near the frontline in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks with the governor of Krasnodar region Veniamin Kondratyev during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with the governor of Krasnodar region Veniamin Kondratyev during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo taken on March 21, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service on March 24, 2025, servicemen attend a dedication ceremony for soldiers near the frontline in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack near Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo taken on March 21, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service on March 24, 2025, servicemen attend a dedication ceremony for soldiers near the frontline in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this image taken from a video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, March 24, 2025, a Russian Army 2S5 howitzer Giatsint-S fires towards Ukrainian positions in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo taken on March 21, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service on March 24, 2025, servicemen attend a dedication ceremony for soldiers near the frontline in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

Police officers carry the body of a person killed by a Russian drone strike in a residential neighborhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

A body of a person lies on a street after a Russian drone strike on residential neighbourhood on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in near Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

A view of the damaged apartment in a multi-storey house after Russia's night drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A resident watches as his neighbour cleans up the damaged apartment in a multi-storey house after a Russian night drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A resident cleans up the damaged apartment in a multi-storey house after Russia's night drone attack, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press is returning to a federal courtroom on Thursday to ask a judge to restore its full access to presidential events, after the White House retaliated against the news outlet last month for not following President Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

In a hearing last month, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden refused the AP’s request for an injunction to stop the White House from barring reporters and photographers from events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban before Thursday’s hearing. It hasn't.

“It seems pretty clearly viewpoint discrimination,” McFadden told the government's attorney at the time.

The AP has sued Trump’s team for punishing a news organization for using speech that it doesn’t like. The news outlet said it would still refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its style guidance to clients around the world, while also noting that Trump has ordered it renamed the Gulf of America.

“For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”

The White House said it has the right to decide who gets to question the president, and has taken steps to take over a duty that has been handled by journalists for decades.

The president has dismissed the AP as a group of “radical left lunatics” and said that “we’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”

The AP has still covered the president, and has been permitted in White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s press briefings, but the ban has cost the organization time in reporting and impeded its efforts to get still images. Even if McFadden rules in favor of the news organization, it’s unclear how the White House will respond to the judge’s order.

The White House Correspondents' Association has asked its members to show solidarity with the AP on Thursday, perhaps by showing up at the courtroom or wearing a pin that signifies the importance of the First Amendment.

The case is one of several aggressive moves the second Trump administration has taken against the press since his return to office, including FCC investigations against ABC, CBS and NBC News, dismantling the government-run Voice of America and threatening funding for public broadcasters PBS and NPR.

A Trump executive order to change the name of the United States’ largest mountain back to Mount McKinley from Denali is being recognized by the AP. Trump has the authority to do so because the mountain is completely within the country he oversees, AP has said.

Writing in the Journal, Pace said the AP didn’t ask for the fight and made efforts to resolve the issue before going to court, but needed to stand on principle.

“If we don’t step up to defend Americans’ right to speak freely," she wrote, "who will?”

David Bauder covers media for The Associated Press. Follow him at

FILE - The Associated Press logo is shown at the entrance to the news organization's office in New York on Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Jackson, File