Zelenskiy discusses talks with U.S. officials, frontline in visits to the east

KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that he had met top military commanders in the country's northeast to discuss the frontline in Ukraine's war with Russia and meetings with U.S. officials due to get under way in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Zelenskiy was shown on the media platform X with commanders in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, a frequent target of Russian attacks.

He said he discussed frontline sectors in Ukraine's east as well as in western Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops remain seven months after a cross-border incursion.

"We also prepared for the meeting between the Ukrainian and American delegations, that will take place tomorrow in Saudi Arabia," the president wrote.

In Washington, a source briefed on the planning of the meetings in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian and Russian officials said the U.S. side would be led by Andrew Peek of the National Security Council and Michael Anton of the State Department.

The group was to meet the Ukrainians on Sunday night and the Russians on Monday.

Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukrainian officials would be present at the talks involving the United States and Russia, but would not be in the same room as Russia.

Russian and U.S. experts are due to discuss ways to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea at talks on a possible peace settlement when in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the Kremlin said.

Zelenskiy agreed to a partial cease fire on energy targets that has been brokered by Washington. The Ukrainian president said he would draw up a list of facilities that could be subject to the ceasefire.

Ukrainian officials first met U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskiy visitd Ukraine's Donetsk region, where he met commanders of drone units near the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian troops have for months been fending off Russian assaults around the city, where Moscow's forces have been slowly advancing to try to eventually capture the entire region. The governor of Donetsk region said on Saturday three people had been killed in Russian shelling of Pokrovsk.

"I visited the command post of the Tactical Group Pokrovsk and met with the commanders of the Drone Line, which united the finest unmanned systems units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote on X.

"I received a report on the defense of the Pokrovsk direction, the operational situation, and the progress of the missions. I honored our warriors with state awards."

Drones have transformed warfare since the start of Russia's February 2022 invasion, and Ukraine has sought to elevate drone units and boost domestic production.

This month, Kyiv's defence ministry said it would purchase around 4.5 million first-person view drones in 2025, mostly from domestic producers, more than doubling last year's rate.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Ron Popeski, additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Alistair Bell)