US-Ukraine talks begin in Saudi Arabia
US and Ukrainian delegation have started their meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine’s foreign ministry just said, posting a video of the Ukrainian delegation arriving for the talks.
Key events
‘Ceasefire never seemed closer,’ top Ukraine president aide writes for the Guardian
Andriy Yermak, the most senior adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has also written for the Guardian about today’s talks in Jeddah.
As I arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a ceasefire in the three-year war the Russian Federation has waged on my country has never seemed closer. …
A ceasefire in Ukraine will not come through diplomatic gestures alone. A number of conditions are crucial beforehand in order to ensure that peace – when it comes – is lasting. This includes putting political and financial pressure on Russia to raise the cost of renewed conflict. …
A stronger, safer and more resilient Europe – militarily, politically and economically – is our shared goal. Securing a meaningful ceasefire is the first step. This requires a Europe that is economically and politically resilient. Europe must be prepared to act to deliver its own security, and Russia must understand the political and economic cost of using force to achieve its ends.
Read his thoughts in full:
‘Don’t waste this chance, whole world is watching you,’ Poland’s Tusk tells US, Ukraine officials
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has just posted a social media update, stressing the importance of today’s US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah.
He said:
Dear Americans, dear Ukrainians, don’t waste this chance. The whole world is watching you in Jeddah today. Good luck!
‘We need surge in European defence and need it now,” EU commission chief tells lawmakers
As the talks in Jeddah take place behind the closed doors, let’s catch up with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s comments at the European Parliament in Strasbourg earlier this morning.
She told EU lawmakers that “the European security order is being shaken, and so many of our illusions are being shattered,” with increasingly aggressive posture from Russia and the shift in US defence policy.
“Some believed that Russia could be integrated in Europe’s economic and security architecture. Others hoped that we could rely indefinitely on America’s full protection. And so we lowered our guard. The time of illusions is over,” she said.
Von der Leyen argued that recent decisions by EU leaders were “unprecedented” and previously “completely unthinkable,” showing new urgency to act and rearm Europe.
“We need a surge in European defence, and we need it now,” she said.
She explained that the first priority was “the urgent need to fill the gaps in Ukraine’s military supplies and to provide Ukraine with solid security guarantees,” but Europe also needs to go beyond that.
“Putin has proven time and again that he is a hostile neighbour. He cannot be trusted. He can only be deterred,” she said.
Ukraine ‘ready to do everything to achieve peace,’ top Zelenskyy adviser says
Ukraine wants peace and is ready to negotiate to end the war, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 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, AFP reported.
US-Ukraine talks underway
We are now getting a first glimpse of inside the negotiating room thanks to a video posted by the Ukrainian foreign ministry on their social media channels.
We are still waiting for first pictures from the US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah, but for now have this snap showing the preparations for the summit…
US-Ukraine talks begin in Saudi Arabia
US and Ukrainian delegation have started their meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine’s foreign ministry just said, posting a video of the Ukrainian delegation arriving for the talks.
Kremlin expects US readout from Ukraine talks
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow expects that the United States will inform Russia about US talks with Ukraine taking place on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to visit Moscow this week to meet president Vladimir Putin, sources told Reuters on Monday.
Peskov said the Kremlin would provide timely information on any contacts with Witkoff.
Create new defence format with EU and close partners, former Italian PM Letta says
Former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta, who now leads the French Jacques Delors Institut, is one of the leading voices in the European debate on security and defence in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a comment for Le Monde this morning, he called for a new European Common Defence System comprising of the 27 EU member states (not sure pro-Russian Hungary will be that keen, though), the UK, Norway, Iceland, and the three Balkan candidate states: Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
He praised recent decisions on raising EU defence spending as “going in the right direction,” but called for deeper integration “beyond the sole dimension of defence [as] security is a much broader objective than defensive military effectiveness,” pointing to energy independence, connectivity, and European autonomy in terms of financial and economic structures.
He said that a more coordinated response was needed to respond to “openly hostile to the EU” administration in the US, and overcome “dramatic weakeness of the EU” in its fragmentation.
Over 30 nations to talk about their support for Ukraine in Paris
Separately, senior army representatives from over 30 countries are meeting in Paris to discuss creating an international force to deter future Russian aggression once a ceasefire is established.
AP notes that the Paris meeting is the most significant culmination so far of French and British efforts to rally nations under a so-called “coalition of the willing” to safeguard Ukraine by establishing a reassurance and deterrence force to dissuade Russia from invading again.
The list of participating countries includes almost all Nato member states – notably, without the US, as it is meant to be a Europe-led mission – as well as some Commonwealth countries and Asian powers such as Japan and South Korea.
The main meeting, part of the Paris Defence Forum, will take place in late afternoon, with a keynote speech framing the task ahead by French president Emmanuel Macron.
Ukraine launched ‘largest ever’ drone attack on Moscow
And just hours before the talks were due to get under way, Ukraine targeted Moscow in what authorities said was its largest ever drone attack on the Russian capital, killing at least one person, sparking fires and forcing the suspension of flights and train travel.
The Russian defence ministry said 337 drones were launched at Russia over Monday night, with 91 of them targeting the Moscow region. The Moscow city mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said it was the largest Ukrainian drone attack on the city.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said flights were suspended at all four of Moscow’s airports. Two other airports, in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions east of Moscow, were also closed.
Morning opening: Crunch time
Jakub Krupa
US and Ukrainian officials are meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, today to see if they can find a way forward for Donald Trump’s push to bring the Russian invasion of Ukraine to an end.
The key building block seems to be the minerals deal, which the US side expected to be signed either at Keith Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv last month, or the now infamous visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House.
Kellogg said last week that he was now expecting the deal to be agreed by US state secretary Marco Rubio and his Ukrainian equivalent, and it just so happens that the two take part in today’s talks.
Asked on Fox News if he thought Ukraine could sign the minerals deal this week, Trump Middle East aide Steve Witkoff said: “I am really hopeful. All the signs are very, very positive.” Could this finally happen today, third time lucky?
But we know that both sides are keen to discuss the broader ramification of any deal and what’s next, including the Ukrainian proposal – first floated by French president Emmanuel Macron – for a limited ceasefire in air and at seas to allow for other talks to progress.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy also repeatedly talked about the importance of exchanging hostages, and of his demand for Russia to return abducted Ukrainian children. Let’s see if he can make progress on these issues.
Last night, the Ukrainian president met with Saudi leaders, who are keen to play a mediating role in the process. In a social media post after the meeting, he said he discussed these ideas, and pointedly added that “a significant part of the discussion was dedicated to the formats of security guarantees.”
Rubio, on the other hand, said “both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation.”
He added: “I’m not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do. 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.”
“The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form,” he said.
Let’s see if they can make progress today. I will bring you all the latest throughout the day.
Elsewhere, we will be keeping one eye on the historic elections in Greenland, the vote of no confidence in the Portuguese government, and other stories across Europe, but our main focus is firmly on Ukraine today.
It’s Tuesday, 11 March 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
Good morning.
