Marco Rubio said the American delegation would not be proposing any specific peace deal measures, but wanted to hear what the Ukrainians would consider.
Russia shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over 10 of the federation’s regions overnight, military officials said Tuesday, in what appeared to be the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on Russia since the war broke out.
Two people were killed and 18 injured, including three children, officials said, hours before the start of Ukraine-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia.
A senior Ukrainian delegation was to meet with America’s top diplomat in the oil-rich Kingdom about ending the three-year war with Russia.
Neither Kyiv nor Washington have yet commented on the attack.
A total of 126 of the drones launched overnight were shot down over the Kursk region across the border from Ukraine, parts of which Kyiv’s forces control, while 91 were shot down over the Moscow region, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 70 drones targeted the capital and were downed as they approached in the biggest single attack on the city since the war began.
Other regions targeted included Belgorod, Bryansk, and Voronezh on the border with Ukraine and some deeper into the Russian interior, like Kaluga, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol, and Ryazan, the statement added.
The governor of Moscow Oblast Andrei Vorobyov said the attack damaged several residential buildings and cars.
Another person was injured on a highway in Lipetsk Oblast, the governor of that region, Igor Artamonov, said.
Sobyanin said the roof of a building in Moscow also sustained damage, which he described as “insignificant.”
Footage published by RIA Novosti showed a charred spot on the facade of a multi-story building near the roof.
Flights were temporarily restricted at six airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky just outside Moscow, as well as at hubs in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
Moscow Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the drone attack was a sign that Russia’s troops were winning on the battlefield, state-owned news agency TASS reported.
“This proves the terrorist nature [of Kyiv] and, of course, proves that on the battlefield our people are winning,” Zakharova stated.
By Guy Birchall
