Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, meets with Prince Saud bin Mishaal, deputy governor of Saudi Arabia's Mecca region, center right, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A Ukrainian delegation set to meet with America’s top diplomat in Saudi Arabia about ending the 3-year war with Russia will propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes, as well as the release of prisoners, two senior Ukrainian officials said Monday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about Tuesday’s meeting, also told The Associated Press that the Ukrainian delegation is ready during the talks to sign an agreement with the United States on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals — a deal that U.S. President Donald Trump is keen to secure.

The officials discussed the confidence-building measures, with no further details, ahead of the Ukrainian negotiating team's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jeddah.

Kyiv is trying to repair the damage done when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Feb. 28 visit to Washington descended into an Oval Office argument with Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

At stake is the military aid and intelligence previously offered by the United States that had helped Ukraine in the war but is now paused as Washington pushes for a peace agreement.

Rubio and Zelenskyy landed a few hours apart Monday in Saudi Arabia, but did not meet.

Zelenskyy met with the kingdom’s powerful crown prince Monday evening, with the president saying they “had a detailed discussion on the steps and conditions needed to end the war and secure a reliable and lasting peace.”

“Saudi Arabia provides a crucial platform for diplomacy, and we appreciate this,” Zelenskyy said online.

Rubio also met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, thanking him for hosting the talks and also discussing Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are threatening to restart their attacks in the Red Sea.

Speaking to reporters aboard his plane before arriving, Rubio said he and national security adviser Mike Waltz would take stock of Ukraine’s responses in Saudi Arabia.

If Ukraine and the U.S. reach an understanding acceptable to Trump, that could accelerate his administration’s push to peace talks.

“What we want to know is, are they interested entering some sort of peace conversation and general outlines of the kinds of things they could consider, recognizing that it has been a costly and bloody war for the Ukrainians. They have suffered greatly and their people have suffered greatly,” Rubio said. “And it’s hard in the aftermath of something like that to even talk about concessions, but that’s the only way this is going to end and prevent more suffering.”

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.”

Zelenskyy has said his team meeting Rubio will include his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Rubio will lead the U.S. team.

The rest of Europe remains skeptical about the talks as it has been sidelined by Washington.

The European Union last week agreed to boost the continent’s defenses and to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security in response to the Trump administration's shift in stance on Ukraine.

White House special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that the pause of U.S. intelligence-sharing with Ukraine has not limited defense intelligence-sharing.

“We never shut off intelligence for ... anything defensive that the Ukrainians need,” Witkoff said.

A pause on sharing U.S. intelligence that can be used for offensive purposes by Ukrainian forces remains in effect, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The official suggested that progress could be made toward reinstating intelligence-sharing with Ukraine during the Saudi talks.

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Rubio says Ukraine partial ceasefire plan 'has promise' ahead of talks in Saudi Arabia

Marco Rubio said he hoped the pause in US aid to Ukraine could be "resolved" but that Tuesday's talks "would be key to that".

America's top diplomat has said that he sees promise in Ukraine's proposal for a partial ceasefire to end the war with Russia, ahead of talks in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian officials.

"I'm not saying that alone is enough but it's the kind of concession you would need to see in order to end the conflict," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.

Kyiv is expected to propose an aerial and naval truce with Russia during the negotiations on Tuesday, a Ukrainian official told AFP.

Russia has previously rejected the idea of a temporary ceasefire, saying it was an attempt to buy time and prevent Ukraine's military collapse.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although he is not expected to play any formal role in the talks between his country and the US.

In his video address late on Monday, Zelensky said he was hoping for a "practical result" at the talks, adding that the Ukrainian position would be "absolutely constructive".

The Ukrainian team will be represented by Zelensky's head of office Andriy Yermak, the country's national security adviser and several foreign and defence ministers.

Rubio will represent the US delegation alongside National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Before arriving in Jeddah on Monday, Rubio said that it was important to "establish clearly Ukraine's intentions" for a peace deal and that the country would "have to be prepared to do difficult things like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things to end this".

"I'm not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do," he added. "We want to listen to see how far they're willing to go, and compare that to what the Russians want, and then see how far apart we truly are."

He said that both sides needed to realise that "there's no military solution" to the conflict and it can only be resolved through "diplomatic means".

It comes as Donald Trump steps up pressure on Zelensky to agree to a ceasefire with Moscow, without any promises of US security guarantees.

The talks mark the first official meeting since Zelensky's visit to the White House descended into acrimony last month.

Following the meeting, the US paused military aid and intelligence sharing for Kyiv in an apparent bid to get Zelensky to the negotiating table.

Rubio said that he hoped the pause in aid could be "resolved" but that the negotiations on Tuesday "would be key to that".

The suspension "came about because we felt that they [Ukraine] were not committed to any sort of peace process", he said, and "if that changes, obviously our posture can change".

"The President is going to use whatever tools he has at his disposal to try to get both sides to that table so this war will end," he added.

Earlier on Monday, Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff said he expected "substantial progress" during the negotiations.

Asked whether he thought Zelensky would return to the US to sign a minerals deal later in the week, he told Fox News: "I am really hopeful. All the signs are very, very positive."

Zelensky has previously said he is willing to sign a minerals deal with the US, which would establish a joint fund from the sale of Ukrainian minerals.

Witkoff said that among the issues to be discussed in Saudi Arabia were security protocols for the Ukrainians and territorial issues.

He said the US administration had never shut off intelligence sharing for anything defensive that Ukraine needed, while on Sunday Trump told Fox News that he had "just about" lifted the intelligence sharing pause on Ukraine.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also spoke to Trump ahead of the talks, Downing Street said.

"The Prime Minister said he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence-sharing to be restarted," the spokeswoman said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently holds around a fifth of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014.

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