International Desk: Important talks between high-level delegations of Ukraine and the US to end the three-year-long war between Russia and Ukraine began in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

The talks between the two sides at a luxurious hotel in the port city are taking place at a time when Russia claimed on Monday night that Ukraine carried out large-scale drone attacks in more than 10 Russian regions and shot down 337 such drones. During the talks, journalists entered the negotiation room for a few moments.

During this, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was seen smiling in front of the camera, while Ukrainian officials sat quietly at the table in front of him. There was no expression on his face. The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia was also present in the negotiation room. The national flags of the US, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine were placed behind him. The officials involved in the talks did not answer any questions of the journalists. Meanwhile, Russian military officials claimed on Tuesday that Russian air defense systems shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over more than 10 Russian regions on Monday night. The attack took place just hours before the start of a very important dialogue between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on measures to stop the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. It is considered to be the biggest drone attack on Russia by Ukraine in the three-year war. Russian officials said that two people were killed and 18 people, including three children, were injured in the Ukrainian drone attack, while several residential buildings and vehicles suffered heavy damage.

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He said that 126 Ukrainian drones were shot down in the Kursk region and 91 over Moscow. According to Russian officials, Ukrainian drones targeted border Belgorod, Bryansk and Voronezh as well as Kaluga, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol and Ryazan within Russia. However, there has been no immediate response from Ukrainian and US officials on this attack. Talks between high-level delegations of Ukraine and the US in Saudi Arabia reflect a new diplomatic effort to end the war after an unprecedented dispute arose during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on February 28. Ukrainian officials told ‘The Associated Press’ on Monday that they would propose a ceasefire in the Black Sea region, which would secure shipping, stop missile attacks on civilians in Ukraine and ensure the release of prisoners.

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Officials had said that Kiev is also ready to sign an agreement giving the US access to Ukraine’s rare minerals. This is an agreement that US President Donald Trump has also shown keenness to sign. However, Rubio, on board the flight to Jeddah, told reporters that the US delegation would not propose any specific measure to end the three-year-long war, but would like to know from Ukraine what conditions they are ready to consider. On the other hand, the Kremlin (Russia’s Presidential Palace) has not publicly offered any concessions. Russia has said that it is ready to end the war on the condition that Ukraine gives up its attempt to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and recognizes the areas occupied by Moscow as Russian territory.

The US Secretary of State said, ‘I will not make any proposal about what they have to do or need to do. I think we want to know how far they are willing to go and then we will compare it with Russia’s conditions and see how far we actually are from the agreement.’ Rubio said an agreement on access to key mineral resources could be signed during the meeting, but stressed it was not a precondition from the US for moving forward with talks with Ukraine or Russia.