Russia launched one of its biggest drone attacks on Ukraine as its and America’s top diplomats were sitting down for peace talks in Saudi Arabia to end Vladimir Putin’s war.
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that Russia used 176 drones for an overnight attack.
Ukraine’s air force reportedly shot down 103 of the drones and 67 did not reach their targets, probably due to electronic countermeasures.
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Russian troops are also seizing more territory in eastern Ukraine, which they have been doing for months while suffering heavy casualties.
Away from the battlefield, top US and Russian officials were set to meet on Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for talks between the two former Cold War foes on ending Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The two sides were expected to discuss ways to end the conflict in Ukraine and restoring American-Russian relations.
The conversation could pave the way for a summit between Donald Trump and Putin as the two sides discuss restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations.
The head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday described Trump as a problem solver ahead of the talks in Saudi Arabia.
“We really see that President Trump and his team is a team of problem solvers, people who have already addressed a number of big challenges very swiftly, very efficiently and very successfully,” said Kirill Dmitriev.
Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other senior oficials will hold talks with top US figures, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that will focus on ending the Ukraine war and restoring “the whole complex” of Russia-US ties.
Ukraine says no peace deal can be made on its behalf in the talks, to which Kyiv was not invited.
The talks come after European leaders gathered in Paris on Monday for an emergency summit after they were blindsided by Trump’s push for immediate talks on Ukraine after a phone call with Putin last week.
Britain took a lead on pledging to send peace-keeping troops to Ukraine if the war ends.
But Sir Keir Starmer stressed that the US would have to act as a “backstop” for such a plan to work.
The European leaders said they would invest more in defence and take the lead in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
“Everyone feels the great sense of urgency,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on X. “At this crucial time for the security of Europe we must continue to stand behind Ukraine.”
Russia, which has occupied parts of Ukraine since 2014, launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
US officials sought to cast Tuesday’s talks as an initial contact to determine whether Moscow is serious about ending the war in Ukraine.
“This is a follow-up on that initial conversation between Putin and President Trump about perhaps if that first step is even possible, what the interests are, if this can be managed,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters in Riyadh.
