Ukraine will present the United States on Tuesday with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia, hours after conducting what Moscow said was a “massive” drone attack on the capital and around the country.
With US President Donald Trump pushing Ukraine for an agreement to end the war that began with Russia’s invasion in 2022, the Russian military has also ramped up its attacks.
The meeting due later Tuesday between Ukrainian and US officials in the Saudi port city of Jeddah will be the most senior since a disastrous White House visit last month when Trump berated Kyiv’s President Volodymyr Zelensky for purported ingratitude.
Since Trump’s dressing down of Zelensky, Washington has suspended military aid to Ukraine as well as intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery in a bid to force it to the negotiating table.
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Ukraine carried out what Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin described as a “massive” overnight attack, with 337 drones shot down across the country including 91 around the Russian capital.
The attack killed one person and wounded nine others, according to Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region.
Zelensky was in Jeddah on Monday to meet Saudi rulers but left the talks to three top aides.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will be joined in Jeddah by Trump’s 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 that the United States had not cut off intelligence for defensive operations.
Zelensky left the White House without signing an agreement demanded by Trump that would give the United States access to much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth as compensation for past weapons supplies.
Zelensky has said he is still willing to sign, although Rubio said it would not be the focus of Tuesday’s meeting.
For its part, Russia has escalated its strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure and retaken villages in its Kursk region that Ukraine had captured in a bid for bargaining leverage.
– Forced into concession –
In the White House meeting, 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 which launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 despite previous diplomacy.
He has since written a repentant letter to Trump.
Faced with Washington’s pressure, Ukraine will lay out its support for a limited ceasefire.
“We do have a proposal for a ceasefire in the sky and ceasefire at sea,” a Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“These are the ceasefire options that are easy to install and to monitor, and it’s possible to start with them.”
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.”
“The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine and obviously it will be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to force the Russians all the way back to where they were back in 2014,” Rubio said, referring to when Russia seized the Crimea peninsula and backed a separatist offensive in eastern Ukraine.
In a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of the US-Ukraine talks, Zelensky’s office said he discussed conditions for any permanent peace deal, including the release of prisoners and the return of children Kyiv accuses Moscow of abducting.
The two leaders “discussed the possible mediation of Saudi Arabia in the release of… prisoners and the return of deported children”, the Ukrainian statement said.
They also “exchanged views on the formats of security guarantees and what they should be for Ukraine so that war does not return again”, it added.
– Reporting back to Russia –
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, also in Saudi Arabia, with counterparts from Russia, 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 has stunned many allies. Rubio said the United States was objecting to “antagonistic” language on Russia at an upcoming gathering of Group of Seven foreign ministers.