Talks on ending war with Russia begin as Ukraine launches huge drone attack
Two people were killed and 18 others injured in the attack, during which Russian air defences shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over 10 regions.
Senior officials from Ukraine and the United States opened talks on Tuesday on how to end Moscow’s three-year war against Kyiv, hours after Russian air defences shot down more than 300 Ukrainian drones in the biggest such attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Two people were killed and 18 others injured, including three children, in the massive drone attack that spanned 10 Russian regions, officials said. No large-scale damage was reported.
Meanwhile, Russia launched 126 Shahed and other drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine on Tuesday, the Ukrainian air force said, as part of Moscow’s relentless pounding of civilian areas during the war.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio smiled for the cameras, while Ukrainian officials sat expressionless at a table across from them as the meeting got under way at a luxury hotel.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian or US officials on the drone attack.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister was on hand for the talks, with American, Saudi and Ukrainian flags in the background. Officials answered no shouted questions.
The talks reflect a new diplomatic push after an unprecedented argument erupted during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House on February 28.
Ukrainian officials told The Associated Press on Monday that they will propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea, which would bring safer shipping, as well long-range missile strikes that have hit civilians in Ukraine, and the release of prisoners.
The Kremlin has not publicly offered any concessions. Russia has said it is ready to cease hostilities on condition Ukraine drops its bid to join Nato and recognises regions that Moscow occupies as Russian.
Most of the Ukrainian drones fired overnight – 126 – were shot down over the Kursk region across the border from Ukraine, parts of which Kyiv’s forces control, and 91 were shot down over the Moscow region, according to a statement from mRussia’s Defence Ministry.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 70 drones targeted the Russian capital and were shot down as they were flying towards it – the biggest single attack on the city in the war so far.
Other attacked regions listed in the statement included Belgorod, Bryansk and Voronezh on the border with Ukraine, and those deeper inside Russia, such as Kaluga, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol and Ryazan.
The governor of the Moscow region surrounding the capital, Andrei Vorobyov, said the attack damaged several residential buildings and a number of cars.
Another person was wounded on a highway in the Lipetsk region, governor Igor Artamonov said.
Footage of the building, published by RIA Novosti, showed a charred spot on the facade of a multi-storey residential building near the roof, with bits of the building’s lining stripped off.
Flights were temporarily restricted in and out of six airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky just outside Moscow, and airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
Train traffic through the Domodedovo railway station in the Moscow region has also been briefly halted, local officials reported.
Local authorities also reported downing drones in the Tula and Vladimir regions adjacent to the Moscow region. It was not immediately clear why those regions were not mentioned in the Defence Ministry’s statement.
In Jeddah, Mr Rubio and his delegation, including national security adviser Mike Waltz, were preparing to meet Mr Zelensky’s team.
On his plane to Jeddah, Mr Rubio said the US delegation will not be proposing any specific measures to secure an end to the three-year conflict but rather wants to hear from Ukraine about what they would be willing to consider.
“I’m not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do,” he told reporters 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.”
Mr Rubio said the rare earths and critical minerals deal could be signed during the meeting but stressed it is not a pre-condition for the United States to move ahead with discussions with either Ukraine or the Russians.
He said it may, in fact, make more sense to take some time to negotiate the precise details of the agreement, which is now a broad memorandum of understanding that leaves out many specifics.
