<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Senior officials from Ukraine and the United States opened talks on Tuesday on how to end Moscow's three-year war against Kyiv, hours after Russian air defenses shot down 343 Ukrainian drones in the biggest such attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbour.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Three people were killed and 18 were injured, including three children, in the massive drone attack that spanned 10 Russian regions, officials said. Russia, meanwhile, launched 126 Shahed and other drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine on Tuesday, the Ukrainian air force said, as part of Moscow's relentless pounding of civilian areas during the war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, journalists briefly entered a room where a senior Ukrainian delegation met with America's top diplomat for talks on ending Europe's biggest conflict since World War II.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/centrelink-indexation-millions-of-australians-to-receive-cash-boost-next-week/fffe4d02-59a7-4e5a-b605-d99eb3960e88" target="_blank"><strong><span>Millions of Australians to receive cash boost next week with indexation changes</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US Secretary of State Marco Rubio smiled for the cameras and when asked what his expectations for the meeting were, he gave a thumbs up and replied, "Good."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Across the table, Ukrainian officials, including the country's top diplomat and defence chief, sat without any facial expressions as the meeting got under way at a luxury hotel. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian or US officials on the drone attack.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>However, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak, who was also taking part in the talks, told reporters that the most important thing was "how to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine". He said security guarantees were important to prevent Russia from invading again in the future.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/ukraine-us-talks-on-ending-war-with-russia-start-in-saudi-arabia-as-kyiv-launches-huge-drone-attack/e8befe5f-ecf4-466f-bb60-cfd955987c1d" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2014, Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and threw its weight behind pro-Kremlin militias in eastern Ukraine. They seized large swaths of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and fought against Kyiv's forces for the following eight years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Saudi Arabia's foreign minister was also on hand as American, Saudi and Ukrainian flags stood in the background. Officials did not answer any of the shouted questions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The delegations met for about three hours in the morning before taking a break, and officials said the talks would continue in the afternoon.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/malcolm-turnbull-abc-interview-donald-trump/23e6ce84-8b56-4629-b3c0-a97700909d59" target="_blank"><strong><span>'Is that the depths you've sunk to?': Former PM blows up over Trump questions</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the United States will inform Russia about the results of the Jeddah talks, which he described as "normal practice".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Talks bring a chance to mend US-Ukraine relations</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The meeting in Jeddah offered an opportunity for Kyiv officials to repair Ukraine's relationship with the Trump administration after an unprecedented argument erupted during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's February 28 visit to the White House.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Critically, Ukraine needs to persuade Washington to end the US suspension of military aid and some intelligence sharing after the Oval Office blowout. US officials have said that positive talks in Jeddah could mean it may be only a short suspension.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ukrainian officials told The Associated Press on Monday that they will propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea, which would bring safer shipping, as well as long-range missile strikes that have hit civilians in Ukraine, and the release of prisoners.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The two senior officials said Kyiv is also ready to sign an agreement with the United States on access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals — a deal that US President Donald Trump is keen to secure.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While traveling to Jeddah, Rubio said the US delegation would not be proposing any specific measures to secure an end to the conflict but rather wanted to hear from Ukraine about what they would be willing to consider.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do," Rubio 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."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rubio said the rare earths and critical minerals deal could be signed during the meeting but stressed it was not a precondition for the United States to move ahead with discussions with either Ukraine or the Russians.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He said it may make more sense to take some time to negotiate the precise details of the agreement, which is now a broad memorandum of understanding that leaves out many specifics.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>The Kremlin is sticking to its conditions for peace</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Kremlin has not publicly offered any concessions. Russia has said it's ready to cease hostilities on condition that Ukraine drops its bid to join NATO and recognises regions that Moscow occupies as Russian. Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine's territory since the war began.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Russian forces have held the battlefield momentum for more than a year, though at a high cost in infantry and armour, and are pushing at selected points along the 1000-kilometre front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region, against Ukraine's understrength and weary army.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ukraine has invested heavily in developing its arms industry, especially high-tech drones that have reached deep into Russia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Most of the Ukrainian drones fired overnight — 126 of them — were shot down over the Kursk region across the border from Ukraine, parts of which Kyiv's forces control, and 91 were shot down over the Moscow region, according to a statement by Russia's Defense Ministry.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said over 70 drones targeted the Russian capital and were shot down as they were flying toward it — the biggest single attack on Moscow so far in the war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The governor of the Moscow region surrounding the capital, Andrei Vorobyov, said the attack damaged several residential buildings and a number of cars.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Flights were temporarily restricted in and out of six airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky just outside Moscow, and airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.</span></div></div>