Unlock the White House Watch watch newsletter for free
Your guide on what the US elections of 2024 mean for Washington and Le Monde
The American and Ukrainian diplomatic delegations launched on Tuesday high stakes in Saudi Arabia that kyiv hopes that kyiv can repair his difficult relationship with Washington and restart the delivery of American weapons and intelligence.
The Ukrainian team is expected to present US officials with a partial cease-fire proposal in which Ukraine and Russia refrain from long-range drones and missiles, energy attacks and civil infrastructure and military activities in the Black Sea.
“The team has arrived, we are preparing at work,” wrote the best presidential assistant Andriy Yermak, who heads the Ukrainian delegation, on Telegram.
The talks, who started at noon in Djeddah, came both while the Ukrainian and Russian forces launched new attacks against the territory of the other.
Moscow authorities reported on Monday evening reported that at least 91 drones had targeted the Russian capital in one of the largest drone attacks against the city since the complete invasion of Russia in 2022.
Ukrainian authorities have also reported drone strikes in several regions of the country overnight.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists that Washington would seek to “understand the Ukrainian position” and assess the concessions that kyiv would be ready to make.
The best diplomat in the United States added on the eve of the talks that kyiv needed to give up a territory to Russia as part of a peace agreement.
“The Russians cannot conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously, it will be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable period to ensure that the Russians return to their state of location in 2014,” said Rubio, referring to the borders of Ukraine before the annexation of the Kremlin of Crimea that year.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, join Rubio in the American delegation.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Saudi Arabia to meet on Monday the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman, but does not participate in discussions with the United States.
“Ukraine’s position in these talks will be fully constructive,” said Zelenskyy on X.
Ukraine rushed over the last 10 days to repair its links with the Trump administration after a disastrous meeting at the White House between Zelenskyy and the American president.
The dispute led Washington to postpone the signing of a mineral agreement and to suspend all military aid to Ukraine, including the sharing of the information on which kyiv relied to reach Russian targets beyond the front line.
Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that intelligence would be discussed at talks, but denied that Washington had stopped providing information for defensive purposes.
Witkoff also said Zelenskyy had apologized for the argument of the White House in a letter sent to Trump.
The cessation of American military aid coincided with a new Russian offensive in the Kursk region, which was seized by Ukrainian forces in August.
Ukraine said Russia has launched ballistic missiles and 126 suicide bomber drones in several of its regions overnight as part of an almost daily attack campaign that lasted several weeks.
The Ukrainian drone attack on Russia killed two people and injured at least 14 others. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had recorded 337 unmanned air vehicles across the country, including intense assault against Moscow.
Images of the capital shared on social networks have shown several buildings of high -rise apartments with fires and dozens of burned vehicles. Officials said all the drones were killed by Russian air defenses.
