Ukrainian and US officials are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia late on Sunday to discuss a possible partial ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, part of an escalating diplomatic push by US President Donald Trump to end three years of war, reports Reuters.

The meeting will precede talks between the US and Russian delegations which are scheduled for Monday.

The meetings follow a series of talks held in Saudi Arabia, first between the US and Russia, and then later between the US and Ukraine, when Kyiv accepted a 30-day truce proposal.

The Ukrainian delegation at Sunday's meeting will be led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier said this fact would allow Kyiv to act in a "very quick and very substantive" way.

However, Ukrainian officials have said they still see Sunday's meeting in Riyadh as purely technical.

Heorhii Tykhyi, foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Friday the Ukrainian and American sides were due "to clarify the modalities, the nuances of possible different ceasefire regimes, how to monitor them, how to control them, in general, what is included in their scope".

Last Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to Trump's proposal for Russia and Ukraine to stop attacks on each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days and ordered the Russian military to cease them.

The agreement fell short, however, of a wider agreement that the US had sought, and which Kyiv backed, for a blanket 30-day truce in the war.

'SOMEWHAT UNDER CONTROL'

Trump said on Saturday that efforts to stop further escalation in the Ukraine-Russia conflict were "somewhat under control". The US hopes to reach a broad ceasefire within weeks, targeting a truce agreement by April 20, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the planning.

Russian and US experts meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday are due to discuss ways to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea, the Kremlin has said.

Despite all the diplomatic activity, Russia and Ukraine have both reported continued strikes, while Russian forces have also continued to advance slowly in eastern Ukraine, a region Moscow claims to have annexed.

A large-scale Russian drone attack on Kyiv overnight killed at least three people, including a 5-year-old child, causing fires in high-rise apartment buildings and damage throughout the capital, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

MSH

At least 34 people, including two babies were killed when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames in southern Benin near the border with Nigeria on Saturday.

According to Beninese Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, “a serious fire occurred in the town of Seme Podji. Another 20 people were seriously wounded in the incident.”

"I can't really give you the cause of the fire, but there is a large gasoline warehouse here and cars, tricycles and motorcycles come from morning to evening,” he added.

Nigeria is a main oil and gas producer where fuel smuggling is very common along its borders, particularly when the government maintains a subsidy to keep fuel prices low.

The majority of the victims were burnt and they could not be not be identified.

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