Top US and Ukrainian officials began talks in Saudi Arabia about the path to a possible peace deal with Moscow, hours after Russia fought off the largest drone attack on its territory in the three-year war.
“Most important is to discuss how to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, told reporters heading into the meeting on Tuesday in the Saudi city of Jeddah. “Ukraine is ready to go for this goal.”
Ahead of the talks with the Ukrainian delegation, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was seeking to hear what concessions Ukraine was willing to make to secure a deal with Russia.
“The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things to end this conflict,” Rubio said. The meeting aims to “establish clearly their intentions.”
US President Donald Trump dispatched Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz to meet Yermak and Ukraine’s defense and foreign ministers, Rustem Umerov and Andrii Sybiha, after his administration suspended military supplies and most intelligence assistance in a reversal of policy that shocked Kyiv and European allies.
The US has tied restoring vital aid to Ukraine demonstrating a commitment to a diplomatic solution in the war that Russia began in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose Oval Office bust-up with Trump on February 28 provoked an unprecedented falling-out, has backed a plan for a temporary halt to air strikes and maritime attacks proposed by France and the UK.
“Security guarantees are very important,” Yermak said ahead of the talks, adding Ukraine sought to ensure “that this aggression will never be repeated in the future.”
Russia is willing to accept a truce to stop all fighting in return for progress on the broad terms of an eventual peace settlement, including for a peacekeeping mission, Bloomberg reported on March 7. The Kremlin has rejected the presence of NATO troops after the UK and France offered to contribute forces to a “coalition of the willing.”
In a quickening of the bid to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump is sending envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow this week to meet with President Vladimir Putin, people familiar with the matter said. Although Witkoff’s title is Middle East envoy, this would be his second trip to Russia as Trump’s representative, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.
Possible Concessions
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Rubio said the US sought to “just get a general sense of what concessions are in the realm of the possible for them and what they would need in return.” He said the US would then find out the Russian position to understand “how far apart we truly are.”
The US is likely to want Ukraine to put aside its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, accept effective neutral status and some limits on its army and weapons, said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of New York-based consultancy Eurasia Group. Russian control of about 20% of Ukrainian territory that it has occupied would also have to be part of any deal, though without any legal recognition, said Kupchan.
This would fuel concerns among traditional US allies in Europe that Trump is willing to accept a deal on Russia’s terms as he pursues his goal of normalizing ties with the Kremlin.
“They want the Ukrainians on board with the ceasefire that Trump wants,” said Kupchan, a former senior State Department official under President Bill Clinton. “They’ll be doing some pressing toward the Putin position.”
Trump said last week that negotiations with Russia were “easier” than with Ukraine. His administration is sketching out how it might ease sanctions imposed on Russia because of the war, including a cap imposed on prices for its oil sales, according to people familiar with the discussions.
A possible natural-resources deal with Ukraine — which Trump has portrayed as a prerequisite to mend ties with Kyiv — won’t be the main topic of discussion during Tuesday’s meeting, Rubio told reporters on the way to Jeddah on Monday.
Zelenskiy met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Kingdom’s de facto ruler, on Monday, but departed before talks with the US began.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan was also at the table with the US and Ukrainian delegations on Tuesday.
Ahead of the Jeddah talks, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed 337 unmanned aerial vehicles overnight, including 91 over the capital region. There were also attacks in nine other regions, according to a statement by the ministry posted on Telegram, including 126 drones downed in the Kursk region that borders Ukraine where the Kremlin’s forces are racing to drive back Kyiv’s troops and deprive it of a key bargaining chip in potential negotiations for a settlement.
Initial estimates show that two people were killed and 18 injured in the capital region, the Interfax news agency reported. Russia also fired 126 drones and one ballistic missile overnight at targets in Ukraine, Kyiv’s Air Force said in a statement on Telegram.
Last month, Russia struck Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa in a massive drone attack that left 160,000 without power and heating hours after top officials from Moscow and Washington had concluded talks. Ukraine wasn’t invited to attend those talks in the Saudi capital, leaving Zelenskiy concerned that the US approach won’t align with his country’s interests.
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