Ukrainian and US officials began their talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to find a path towards ending the war with Russia, hours after Kyiv's forces launched their largest drone attack on Moscow to date.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hopes the talks in Jeddah will revive "pragmatic" US ties after his disastrous meeting with US President Donald Trump last month and he has suggested an initial truce with Russia in the air and at sea.
The proposal is aimed at demonstrating he is working towards Trump's objective to end the war at lightning speed, after the US president accused the Ukrainian leader of not being ready for peace and pressed on with direct talks with Russia.
The United States, Kyiv's main ally since the 2022 invasion, has upended its policy on the war and piled pressure on Ukraine, stopping military assistance and pausing intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
"We hope for practical outcomes," Zelenskiy said ahead of the talks in a post on X late on Monday. "Ukraine's position in these talks will be fully constructive."
Overnight, Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Moscow to date, deploying at least 91 drones, killing at least one person, sparking fires, closing airports and forcing dozens of flights to be diverted, Russian officials said.
The timing of the strike - in which 337 drones were downed over Russia, according to Moscow - appeared aimed at showing Kyiv is still capable of major attacks after a spate of Russian missile attacks, one of which killed at least 14 people on Saturday.
Zelenskiy has been calling on his European allies to support his truce idea that he says would be a chance to test Moscow's will to end the war.
Ukraine has tried to revive its US ties after Zelenskiy's clash with Trump, which left the signing of a bilateral minerals deal in limbo and Kyiv's bid to obtain security guarantees from Washington adrift.
Trump has framed the deal, which is set to be discussed on Tuesday, as key to continued US support and compensation for many billions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded three years ago.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday en route to Jeddah that the talks with Kyiv would be important to gauge if Ukraine is willing to make concessions to reach peace.
"We have to understand the Ukrainian position and just have a general idea of what concessions they'd be willing to make, because you're not going to get a ceasefire and an end to this war unless both sides make concessions," he said.
The top US diplomat is being joined by US national security adviser Mike Waltz for the talks. The Ukrainian side is led by Andriy Yermak, a top Zelenskiy aide. Zelenskiy, who was in Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will not be joining the talks.
"A meeting of the Ukrainian and American delegations begins in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia," the Ukrainian foreign ministry wrote on Telegram, posting a video of senior Ukrainians officials entering a meeting room around 0900 GMT.
Ahead of the talks, Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has been drafted into Ukraine diplomacy, said he was hopeful the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal would be signed soon.
Witkoff plans to visit Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin, a person briefed on the plans said on Monday.
CEDING TERRITORY?
Ukraine's European allies argue that Ukraine can only negotiate a peace deal with Russia from a position of strength and Kyiv should not be rushed to the bargaining table with an aggressor.
Zelenskiy has said that Putin does not want peace and warned that Russia could attack other European countries if its invasion of Ukraine does not result in a clear defeat.
Rubio declined on Monday to specify concessions each side would have to make but said Kyiv would have difficulty reclaiming all of its lost territory.
"The Russians can't conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it'll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014," he told reporters.
Russia holds around a fifth of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014, and its troops are pressing on the eastern Donetsk region.
US and Russian officials met in the Saudi capital in February in a rare encounter between the former Cold War foes. The discussions were focused largely on restoring ties after a near-total freeze on official contact under former US President Joe Biden, Trump's predecessor.
