Representatives of Russia and the United States will hold talks on Ukraine on 24 March in Saudi Arabia, President Vladimir Putin's adviser Yury Ushakov said.

This week, Donald Trump held talks with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, and the US is also due to hold talks with Kiev in the coming days.

"These consultations will take place on Monday, March 24, in Riyadh. On the Russian side, they will be attended by Grigory Karasin, chairman of the Senate International Affairs Committee, and Sergei Beseda, adviser to the head of the FSB security service," Ushakov said in comments published by the Kremlin.

Ushakov said he had confirmed this after talks with US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Both had agreed to send "expert groups" to the talks, he added.

The delegations are to discuss "initiatives" Putin and Trump have talked about regarding the Black Sea.

In 2014, the Russian FSB admitted that Beseda was in Kiev during the bloody crackdown in the Ukrainian capital at the height of the country's pro-European revolution.

He has been under Western sanctions since 2014.

Karasin is a career diplomat.

Kiev has said the US should hold talks with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia in the "coming days".

It is unclear whether they will be held on the same day or whether the Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet. | BGNES