Ukrainian and U.S officials have held an urgent meeting in Saudi Arabia to find a way to stop the war with Russia, just hours after Kyiv’s military launched their heaviest drone attack on Moscow.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has proposed an initial air and sea truce with Russia and expects the summit in Jeddah would restore “pragmatic” US ties following his disastrous talks with US President Donald Trump last month.
The plan is intended to demonstrate that he is working toward Trump’s goal of ending the war quickly, after the US president accused the Ukrainian leader of being unprepared for peace and pressed ahead with direct negotiations with Russia.
Ukraine’s concerned European allies are keeping an eye out for any signs of improvement, or further deterioration, in Kyiv’s relations with Trump’s Washington, which has upended US policy on the war and increased pressure on Ukraine.
In particular, the United States has stopped military assistance and paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Trump on Monday that he hoped those moves could be reversed as a result of the talks.
Meanwhile, Ukraine overnight launched its biggest drone on Moscow yet, deploying at least 91 drones, killing at least three people, sparking fires, closing airports and forcing dozens of flights to be diverted, Russian officials said.
According to Moscow, the strike that dropped 337 drones above Russia appeared to be intended to demonstrate Kyiv’s ability to land big strikes in response to a regular stream of Russian missile and drone attacks, one of which killed 14 people on Saturday.
It comes as Zelenskiy has been urging his European partners to accept the concept of an air and sea truce, which he sees as an opportunity to test Moscow’s determination to stop the conflict.
As the diplomacy unfolds, Ukraine’s combat positions are under intense pressure, particularly in Russia’s Kursk area, where Moscow’s forces have launched an offensive to flush out Kyiv’s troops, who had been attempting to keep a piece of ground as a negotiating chip.
