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Almost complete secrecy surrounded the meeting between Russian and U.S. representatives held Monday in Riyadh to negotiate a possible ceasefire in Ukraine. The meeting concluded after more than 12 hours, and the only communication offered was that the text of the agreement would not be published until Tuesday. The Kyiv delegation will hold further talks with the Washington representatives after meeting last Sunday.

Before the delegates locked themselves in a conference room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the Saudi Arabian capital, few details had emerged about the content of these talks. Washington wanted to extract a truce from Moscow beyond the minimum guarantees proposed to protect critical infrastructure.

In the latest development, Moscow sought to revive the Black Sea grain export agreement, a new priority that wasn’t on the agenda when these rounds of negotiations were announced last week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Monday: “The issue of the Black Sea Initiative and all aspects related to the renewal of this initiative is on the agenda today.”

The laconicism regarding the progress of the talks also extended to Washington. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce provided few details on the progress of the negotiations in Riyadh, merely confirming that the situation in the Black Sea had been one of the major issues addressed in the diplomatic back-and-forth. “We’ve never been closer, a breath away, from a full ceasefire, and then a discussion about an enduring peace. It’s doable. Humanity has done it in the past, we can do it again […] this is the time where there has to be new ideas, where this dynamic has to stop” she said.