JEDDAH: Ukrainian and U.S. officials met behind closed doors for hours of talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to find a path towards ending the war with Russia, after Kyiv’s forces launched their largest drone attack on Moscow of the war overnight.
Ukrainians and anxious allies watched for any signs of an improvement – or further deterioration – in Kyiv’s troubled transatlantic ties after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disastrous talks with U.S. President Donald Trump last month.
Under Trump, Kyiv’s one-time staunchest ally has upended its policy on the war and piled pressure on Ukraine, declining to provide security guarantees as part of any peace deal, while pausing military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters en route to the talks in Jeddah that the meeting would be important to gauge if Ukraine is willing to make concessions to reach peace.
More than three hours into the meeting, Mike Waltz, the U.S. national security adviser, emerged for a break with Rubio and told reporters: “We’re getting there.”
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff who is leading the Ukrainian delegation, said earlier that the meeting had “begun very constructively”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a close Kyiv ally, told Trump on Monday that he hoped that U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing could be resumed as a result of a “positive outcome” at the talks.
Zelenskyy lands in Saudi Arabia as US voices high hopes for Ukraine talks
“Dear Americans, dear Ukrainians, don’t waste this chance. The whole world is watching you in Jeddah today. Good luck!” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X.
Three dead in drone attack on Moscow
As the diplomacy plays out, Ukraine’s battlefield positions are under heavy pressure, particularly in Russia’s Kursk region where Moscow’s forces have launched a push to flush out Kyiv’s troops, which had been trying to hold a patch of land as a bargaining chip.
Ukraine overnight launched its biggest drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region yet, showing that Kyiv can also land major blows after a steady stream of Russian missile and drone attacks, one of which killed 14 people on Saturday.
The attack, in which 337 drones were downed over Russia, killed at least three employees of a meat warehouse and caused a short shutdown at Moscow’s four airports, Russian officials said.
Ukraine said its drones struck an oil refinery near Moscow and a facility in Russia’s Oryol region, while Hungary said crude oil shipments via Russia’s Druzhba pipeline were suspended following the attack.
Ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy suggested an initial truce with Russia in the air and at sea, in an effort to show he is working towards Trump’s objective of ending the war at lightning speed and that the obstacle to that goal is Moscow, not Kyiv.
Zelenskyy, ahead of US talks, says Ukraine wants peace
Zelenskyy says the truce idea would be a chance to test Moscow’s willingness to end the war.
Zelenskyy’s Oval Office clash with Trump left the signing of a bilateral minerals deal in limbo and Kyiv’s bid to obtain security guarantees from Washington adrift.
Ahead of the talks, Yermak told reporters that security guarantees remained key for Ukraine, but suggested they might only look at that in a preliminary way on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy, who was in Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is not joining the talks.
Trump’s Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has been drafted into Ukraine diplomacy but is not taking part in Tuesday’s talks, said he was hopeful the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal would be signed soon.
Witkoff plans to visit Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin, a person briefed on the plans said.
Ceding territory?
Ukraine’s European allies argue that Kyiv can only negotiate a peace deal with Russia from a position of strength and that it should not be rushed to the bargaining table with an aggressor.
Zelenskyy has said that Putin does not want peace and warned that Russia could attack other European countries if its invasion of Ukraine does not result in a clear defeat.
Rubio declined on Monday to specify concessions each side would have to make but said Kyiv would have difficulty reclaiming all of its lost territory.
Russia holds around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and its troops are pressing on the eastern Donetsk region.
U.S. and Russian officials met in the Saudi capital in February in a rare encounter between the former Cold War foes. The discussions were focused largely on restoring ties after a near-total freeze on official contact under former U.S. President Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor.
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