The Ukrainian presidency's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Tuesday that discussions with the US delegation in the Saudi port city of Jeddah had begun positively.

 

"The meeting with the US team started very constructively, we continue our work," Yermak, who was attending the most senior meeting with US officials since a dramatic fallout at the White House last month, said on social media.

 

Ukraine and the United States began talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday with a partial ceasefire with Russia on the table, just hours after Kyiv conducted a major drone attack targeting the Moscow area.

 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga were attending the meeting, with President Donald Trump ramping up pressure on Ukraine to end the war that began in 2022.

 

The talks come days after President Volodymyr Zelensky's dressing-down at the White House, and Ukraine is hoping its ceasefire offer will persuade Washington to resume the military aid, intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery it cut off after the row.

 

"We are ready to do everything to achieve peace," Ukrainian presidency chief of staff Andriy Yermak had told reporters before he entered the meeting, with no Russian delegation expected to attend.

 

Kyiv officials said the "largest drone attack in history", when hundreds of drones hit Moscow and other areas overnight, was intended to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an aerial and naval ceasefire.

 

"This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air," said Andriy Kovalenko, a national security council official responsible for countering disinformation.

 

Ukraine is hoping the ceasefire offer will persuade the United States to resume the military aid, intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery that was cut off after Trump's row with Zelensky.