US-Ukraine talks: Kyiv says talks 'very constructive' after Russia hit by ‘largest ever’ drone attack

Kyiv official says US-Ukraine talks in Saudi 'going OK'

As a drone smashed into the side of her apartment block in the early hours, Russia's full-scale offensive on Ukraine finally came home to Svetlana, a saleswoman in the Moscow commuter town of Ramenskoye. "We understood there was a war -- but we didn't properly realise it," the 59-year old told AFP. For many Russians, Moscow's three-year campaign on Ukraine has felt distant.

Washington will somehow brief Moscow on the outcome of its Tuesday meeting with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"A US-Ukraine meeting will take place in Jeddah today. The US, which is in search of ways to reach a peaceful solution, will keep us updated somehow," he said.

"We will let you know once it happens," the Kremlin spokesman added, particularly commenting on reports alleging that US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff could arrive in Moscow on Thursday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A third person has died as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow region, Evgeniya Khrustaleva, the head of the town of Domodedovo, said on Tuesday (March 11) via her channel in Telegram. Ukraine on Tuesday launched its biggest ever drone attack on Moscow, killing at least two workers at a meat warehouse, injuring 18 others and causing a short shutdown at the Russian capital's four airports, Russian officials said. A total of 337 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia, including 91 over the Moscow region and 126 over the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been pulling back, the defence ministry said.

The Kremlin said in the wake of a big Ukrainian drone attack on Russia on Tuesday (March 11) that the United States was seeking to understand how ready Kyiv is for talks on ending the war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was replying to a question about whether there was a link between the drone attack and peace talks. He was speaking as Ukrainian and U.S. officials met in Saudi Arabia to find a path towards ending the three-year-old conflict.

The death toll in Ukraine's overnight drone attack on the Moscow region -- the largest in the three years of Russia's offensive -- rose to three after a wounded man died in hospital, a Russian official said Tuesday. 

"I was just told that a third man also died," Yevgenia Khrustalyeva, the head of the Domodedovo district outside Moscow, said on social media. 

Ukraine says the drone attack launched on the Moscow region overnight should encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept an aerial ceasefire proposed by Kyiv. 

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 wants peace and is ready to negotiate to end the war, a top advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday as he entered talks with US counterparts in Saudi Arabia.

"We are ready to do everything to achieve peace," Ukrainian presidency chief of staff Andriy Yermak told reporters.

The Kremlin on Tuesday condemned Ukraine for launching drone attacks on residential buildings, hours after a massive attack on the Moscow suburbs.

"The Kyiv regime is hitting social facilities and residential buildings," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media, also hailing Russia's air defences as having worked "very well" to repel the attack, in which two people were killed.

Ukrainian and US officials began talks Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, an AFP journalist reported, where Ukraine is expected to present the United States with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia.

An AFP journalist at the scene reported that the talks had begun, while the Ukrainian foreign ministry posted on social media that "a meeting of Ukrainian and American delegations begins in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia."