Ukraine and the United States began talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday with a partial ceasefire with Russia on the table, just hours after Kyiv conducted a major drone attack targeting the Moscow area.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga were attending the meeting, with President Donald Trump ramping up pressure on Ukraine to end the war that began with Russia's 2022 invasion.
The talks come days after President Volodymyr Zelensky's dressing-down at the White House, and Ukraine is hoping its ceasefire offer will persuade Washington to resume the military aid, intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery it cut off after the row.
"We are ready to do everything to achieve peace," Ukrainian presidency chief of staff Andriy Yermak told reporters as he entered the meeting, with no Russian delegation expected to attend.
Kyiv officials said the "largest drone attack in history", when hundreds of drones hit Moscow and other areas overnight, was intended to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an aerial and naval ceasefire.
"This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air," said Andriy Kovalenko, a national security council official responsible for countering disinformation.
Ukraine is hoping the ceasefire offer will persuade the United States to resume the military aid, intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery that was cut off after Trump's row with Zelensky.
Zelensky, who met Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler in Jeddah on Monday, left the White House without signing an agreement pushed by Trump for the United States to secure control over Ukrainian mineral resources.
Zelensky has said he is still willing to sign, although Rubio said it would not be the focus of Tuesday's meeting.
Rubio, who is accompanied by national security advisor Mike Waltz, said the aid suspension was "something I hope we can resolve" in the talks.
"Hopefully, we'll have a good meeting and good news to report," Rubio said.
Rubio said that the United States had not cut off intelligence for defensive operations.
'Massive' drone attack
Ahead of Tuesday's meeting, Ukraine carried out what Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin described as a "massive" overnight attack, with 337 drones shot down including 91 around the capital.
The attack killed one person and wounded nine others, according to Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region.
For its part, Russia has escalated strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure and retaken villages in its Kursk region that Ukraine had captured in a bid for bargaining leverage.
In the White House meeting, Zelensky refused to bite his tongue in the face of criticism from Vice President JD Vance, with the Ukrainian leader questioning why his country should trust promises from Russia which launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 despite previous diplomacy.
He has since written a repentant letter to Trump.
Faced with Washington's pressure, Ukraine will lay out its support for a limited ceasefire.
"We do have a proposal for a ceasefire in the sky and ceasefire at sea," a Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Rubio signalled that the Trump administration would likely be pleased by such a proposal.
"I'm not saying that alone is enough, but it's the kind of concession you would need to see in order to end the conflict," he told reporters.
"You're not going to get a ceasefire and an end to this war unless both sides make concessions."
"The Russians can't conquer all of Ukraine and obviously it will be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to force the Russians all the way back to where they were back in 2014," Rubio added, referring to when Russia seized the Crimea peninsula and backed a separatist offensive in eastern Ukraine.
'Possible' Saudi mediation
In his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Zelensky's office said he discussed conditions for any permanent peace deal, including the release of prisoners and the return of children Kyiv accuses Moscow of abducting.
The two leaders "discussed the possible mediation of Saudi Arabia in the release of... prisoners and the return of deported children", the Ukrainian statement said.
They also "exchanged views on the formats of security guarantees and what they should be for Ukraine so that war does not return again", it added.
Rubio said he did not expect to be "drawing lines on a map" towards a final deal in the Jeddah meeting, but said he would bring ideas back to Russia.
Rubio and Waltz met last month, also in Saudi Arabia, with counterparts from Russia, ending a freeze in high-level contacts imposed by former president Joe Biden after Russia defied Western warnings and launched its invasion.
Trump last week also threatened further sanctions against Russia to force it to the table as it carried out strikes on Ukraine.
But Trump's abrupt shift in US policy has stunned many allies. Rubio said the United States was objecting to "antagonistic" language on Russia at an upcoming gathering of Group of Seven foreign ministers.
By Shaun Tandon, with AFP
Comments