Russian air defenses shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over 10 Russian regions overnight, military officials said Tuesday, marking what appeared to be the largest Ukrainian drone attack on Russia in the three-year war.
High-stakes talks between senior delegations from Ukraine and the United States on how to end Kyiv’s ongoing war with Moscow opened in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hours after Russian air defenses downed the drones.
Two people were killed, and 18 others, including three children, were injured in the massive drone attack, officials reported. However, no large-scale damage was reported.
In the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, journalists briefly entered a room where a senior Ukrainian delegation met America’s top diplomat for talks aimed at ending Europe’s biggest conflict since the Second World 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 began at a luxury hotel. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian or US officials on the drone attack.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister was present for the talks, with American, Saudi, and Ukrainian flags in the background. Officials declined to answer shouted questions from the media.
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 would propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea, which would facilitate safer shipping, along with 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 stated that it is ready to cease hostilities on the condition that Ukraine drops its bid to join NATO and recognizes the regions occupied by Moscow as Russian.
Russian forces have held battlefield momentum for more than a year and are pushing at selected points along the 600-mile (1,000km) front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region.
Most of the Ukrainian Drones Shot Down
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. Additionally, 91 drones were shot down over the Moscow region, according to a statement from Russia’s Defense Ministry.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 70 drones targeted the Russian capital and were shot down as they approached the city – marking the biggest single attack on Moscow in the war so far.
Other attacked regions listed in the statement included Belgorod, Bryansk, and Voronezh on the border with Ukraine, as well as regions 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, according to Governor Igor Artamonov.
Mayor Sobyanin mentioned that the roof of a building in Moscow also suffered “insignificant” damage. Footage published by RIA Novosti showed a charred spot on the facade of a multi-story 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, as well as airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
Train traffic through the Domodedovo railway station in the Moscow region was also briefly halted, local officials reported. Local authorities also reported downing drones in the Tula and Vladimir regions adjacent to Moscow. It was not immediately clear why those regions were not mentioned in the Defense Ministry’s statement.
Diplomatic Developments in Jeddah
In Jeddah, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his delegation, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, were preparing to meet President Zelensky’s team.
Two senior Ukrainian officials said Kyiv is ready to sign an agreement with the United States on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals – a deal President Donald Trump is eager to secure.
On his plane to Jeddah, Rubio said the US delegation would not be proposing specific measures to secure an end to the three-year conflict but instead wanted 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.”
Rubio also mentioned that the rare earths and critical minerals deal could be signed during the meeting but emphasized that it is not a pre-condition for the United States to move forward with discussions with either Ukraine or Russia. He added that it may make more sense to take additional time to negotiate the precise details of the agreement, which is currently a broad memorandum of understanding without many specifics.
Source: Irish Examiner
