(AFP) – Ukraine said talks with the United States in Saudi Arabia began “very constructively” on Tuesday, 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 Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga attended the meeting in Jeddah — which Russia was not participating in — as President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Ukraine to end the war that began with Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The talks come just days after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s public dressing-down at the White House, after which the United States 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 will persuade Washington to restore the assistance. “We are ready to do everything to achieve peace,” Ukrainian presidency chief of staff Andriy Yermak told reporters as he entered Tuesday’s 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 national security council official responsible for countering disinformation. Three people were killed in the attack, which both sides said was the biggest so far on Moscow. Russia’s army said it intercepted 337 drones around the country.
– Minerals deal –
Zelensky, who met Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler in Jeddah on Monday, left the White House late last month without signing an agreement pushed by Trump that would give the United States 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 the United States had not cut off intelligence for defensive operations. “The meeting with the US team started very constructively, we continue our work,” Yermak said on social media Tuesday. Asked whether the overnight drone attack could derail peace talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said: “There are no (peace) negotiations yet, so there is nothing to disrupt here.” He also declined earlier to comment on Russia’s stance on the proposed partial ceasefire. “It is absolutely impossible to talk about positions yet,” he said. “The Americans will find out only today, as they themselves say, from Ukraine to what extent Ukraine is ready for peace.”
For its part, Russia has escalated strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and said it had retaken 12 settlements in its Kursk region that Ukraine had captured in a bid for bargaining leverage.
– Rubio seeks ‘concessions’ –
In the infamous White House meeting last month, 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. He has since written a repentant letter to Trump. Faced with Washington’s pressure, Ukraine will lay out its support for a limited ceasefire in the sky and at sea, a Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday.
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.” 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 with counterparts from Russia, also in Saudi Arabia, 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 — including suggesting Ukraine was to blame for the war and recently siding with Russia in recent votes at the UN — has stunned many allies. Rubio said Monday that the United States would also object to “antagonistic” language on Russia at an upcoming gathering of Group of Seven foreign ministers.
burs-sct/th/smw – Shaun Tandon with AFP in Moscow
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