Ukraine yesterday said that talks with the US in Saudi Arabia began “very constructively,” with a partial ceasefire with Russia on the table hours after Kyiv conducted its largest drone attack on Moscow in three years of war.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiga attended the meeting in Jeddah — which Russia was not participating in — as US President Donald Trump ramped up the pressure on Ukraine to end the war that began with Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The talks come just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s public dressing-down at the White House, after which the US cut off military aid, intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery. Ukraine is hoping the offer of a partial ceasefire in the sky and at sea would persuade Washington to restore the assistance.
Photo: AFP / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
“We are ready to do everything to achieve peace,” Ukrainian presidency chief of staff Andriy Yermak told reporters as he entered the meeting at a luxury hotel.
Kyiv officials said the “largest drone attack in history,” in which hundreds of drones slammed into Moscow and other areas overnight, was intended to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to the 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 Ukrainian official responsible for countering disinformation.
Zelenskiy, who met Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Jeddah on Monday, left the White House late last month without signing an agreement pushed by Trump that would give the US control over Ukraine’s rare earths.
Zelenskiy has said he is still willing to sign, although Rubio said it would not be the focus of yesterday’s meeting.
Rubio, who was accompanied by US National Security Adviser 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 US had not cut off intelligence for defensive operations.
“The meeting with the US team started very constructively, we continue our work,” Yermak wrote on social media.
Asked whether the overnight drone attack could derail peace talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said: “There are no [peace] negotiations yet, so there is nothing to disrupt here.”
In the infamous White House meeting last month, Zelenskiy refused to bite his tongue in the face of criticism from US Vice President J.D. Vance, with the Ukrainian president questioning why his nation should trust promises from Russia.
He has since written a repentant letter to Trump.
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