JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Senior officers from Ukraine and the US opened talks Tuesday fascinated with finishing Moscow’s three-year conflict in opposition to Kyiv, hours after Russia shot down over 300 Ukrainian drones. It used to be Ukraine’s largest assault because the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
The talks within the Saudi town of Jeddah come after President Donald Trump paused U.S. army assist to Ukraine final week, along side some intelligence sharing, in an try to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to interact in negotiations to finish the conflict in opposition to Russia.
Trump particular envoy Steve Witkoff is predicted to shuttle later this week to Moscow, the place he may just meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in step with an individual conversant in the topic however no longer approved to remark publicly. The individual cautioned that scheduling may just alternate.
The temper around the room
Reporters have been in brief allowed in a room the place a senior Ukrainian delegation met with The us’s most sensible diplomat, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who smiled on the cameras and when requested about his expectancies for the assembly, gave a thumbs-up and answered, “Good.”
Around the desk, Ukrainian officers, together with the rustic’s most sensible diplomat and protection leader, confirmed no facial expressions because the assembly were given underway at a luxurious resort. On the other hand, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak advised newshounds that a very powerful factor used to be “how to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” He mentioned safety promises have been vital to forestall Russia from invading once more sooner or later.
It used to be the primary assembly between the 2 aspects because the Oval Administrative center blowup between Trump and Zelenskyy final month.
From left, U.S. Nationwide Safety Adviser Mike Waltz, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Saudi Arabian International Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Nationwide Safety Marketing consultant Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, Ukrainian International Minister Andrii Sybiha, and Ukrainian Head of Presidential Administrative center Andriy Yermak grasp a gathering in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2025.
Saul Loeb/Pool Picture by means of Related Press
Saudi Arabia’s international minister used to be additionally available as American, Saudi and Ukrainian flags may well be noticed within the background. Officers didn’t solution any of the newshounds’ shouted questions.
The delegations met for roughly 3 hours within the morning ahead of taking a spoil, and officers mentioned the talks persevered within the afternoon.
There used to be additionally no speedy remark from Ukrainian or U.S. officers at the huge assault wherein 343 drones focused 10 Russian areas, leaving 3 other people useless and 18 wounded, together with 3 kids, officers mentioned.
In the meantime, Russia introduced 126 drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air pressure mentioned, as a part of Moscow’s relentless pounding of civilian spaces all over the conflict.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the US will tell Russia about the result of the Jeddah talks, which he described as “normal practice.”
Talks deliver an opportunity to fix U.S.-Ukraine family members
The assembly in Jeddah introduced a possibility for Kyiv officers to fix Ukraine’s courting with the Trump management after an unparalleled argument erupted all over Zelenskyy’s Feb. 28 discuss with to the White Area.
Severely, Ukraine wishes to influence Washington to finish the U.S. suspension of army assist and intelligence sharing after the blowout. U.S. officers have mentioned that sure talks in Jeddah may just imply that the pause is brief.
Ukrainian officers advised The Related Press on Monday that they are going to suggest a ceasefire protecting the Black Sea, which might deliver more secure transport, in addition to long-range missile moves that experience hit civilians in Ukraine, and the discharge of prisoners.
The 2 senior officers mentioned Kyiv may be able to signal an settlement with the US on get right of entry to to Ukraine’s uncommon earth minerals — a deal that Trump is eager to safe.
Whilst touring to Jeddah, Rubio mentioned the U.S. delegation would no longer be proposing any explicit measures to safe an finish to the warfare however relatively sought after to listen to from Ukraine about what they’d be prepared to imagine.
“I’m not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do,” Rubio advised newshounds accompanying him. “I think we want to listen to see how far they’re willing to go and then compare that to what the Russians want and see how far apart we truly are.”
Rubio mentioned the uncommon earths and demanding minerals deal may well be signed all over the assembly, however he stressed out it used to be no longer a precondition for the US to transport forward with discussions with both Ukraine or the Russians.
He mentioned it’s going to make extra sense to take a little time to barter the suitable main points of the settlement, which is now a vast memorandum of figuring out that leaves out many specifics.
The Kremlin is sticking to its prerequisites for peace
The Kremlin has no longer publicly introduced any concessions. Russia has mentioned it’s able to stop hostilities provided that Ukraine drops its bid to enroll in NATO and acknowledges areas that Moscow occupies as Russian. Russia has captured just about a 5th of Ukraine’s territory.
Russian forces have held the battlefield momentum for greater than a yr, despite the fact that at a excessive price in infantry and armor, and are pushing at decided on issues alongside the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) entrance line, particularly within the japanese Donetsk area, in opposition to Ukraine’s understrength and weary military.
Ukraine has invested closely in creating its hands trade, particularly high-tech drones that experience reached deep into Russia.
Lots of the Ukrainian drones fired in a single day — 126 of them — have been shot down over the Kursk area around the border from Ukraine, portions of which Kyiv’s forces regulate, and 91 have been shot down over the Moscow area, in step with a observation via Russia’s Protection Ministry.
Investigators have a look at the wear of an rental construction the place the downed Ukrainian drone fell in Sapronovo village out of doors Moscow, Russia, on March 11, 2025.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin mentioned over 70 drones focused the Russian capital and have been shot down as they have been flying towards it — the largest unmarried assault on Moscow up to now within the conflict.
The governor of the Moscow area surrounding the capital, Andrei Vorobyov, mentioned the assault broken a number of residential constructions and numerous automobiles.
Flights have been quickly limited out and in of six airports, together with Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky simply out of doors Moscow, and airports within the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod areas.
Related Press writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this record.
