WASHINGTON, March 18. /TASS/. The United States and Russia will immediately launch negotiations in the Middle East for resolving the Ukraine conflict, the White House said in a statement after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
According to the readout released by Washington, the two leaders agreed "that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace."
"These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East," the readout stated. According to the White House, the conflict in Ukraine "should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts.".