Ukraine hails ‘constructive’ start to US talks, hours after Russia hit by ‘massive’ drone attack.

Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaCNN — 

A senior Ukrainian official said a new round of talks with the United States got off to a constructive start, a huge relief for Kyiv after the extraordinarily public blowup between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky less than two weeks ago.

Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak, who is representing Ukraine at the talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said Tuesday that “the meeting with the US team started very constructively.”

“We are working to bring about a just and lasting peace,” he added.

The Ukrainian delegation, which does not include Zelensky, was meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Both Rubio and Waltz attended direct talks with Russia last month.

As the meeting entered its fourth hour, Rubio and Waltz were seen walking through the lobby at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jeddah where talks were underway between US and Ukraine officials.

In response to a question from CNN about how the meeting went, Waltz responded “getting there.”

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Speaking before the meeting, Rubio said the US wanted to get more details on Kyiv’s position and what possible concessions Ukraine would be willing to make, adding that the US was “in listening mode.”

Yermak on Tuesday declined to outline what, if any, compromises his country could offer to get to a peace deal. He said that security guarantees from the US were “very important” so that Russia cannot repeat its aggression.

The issue of security guarantees is one of the key sticking points between the US and Ukraine. Kyiv has long said that any ceasefire or peace deal must be underpinned by Western security guarantees because history shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not stick to agreements that don’t include them.

Many of Ukraine’s Western allies have backed Kyiv on this point, but the Trump administration has so far refused to make any concrete commitments.

Speaking at the European Parliament on Tuesday, president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said there was “the urgent need to fill the gaps in Ukraine’s military supplies and to provide Ukraine with solid security guarantees.”

“Putin has proven time and again that he is a hostile neighbor. He cannot be trusted, he can only be deterred,” she said.

Yermak seemed to acknowledge that security guarantees might not be on the agenda on Tuesday, stressing to reporters that finding a way to get the peace process started was the priority for the meeting.

“Now we think it’s necessary to discuss the most important: how to start this process,” Yermak told reporters in the lobby of Jeddah’s Ritz-Carlton hotel before the meeting. “And we’re very open, very open. And we want to have very constructive, deep, friend, partners conversation with our American partners.”