Ukraine's mood is bleak as talks begin without Kyiv and Russian drones hit

Ukraine reacted with gloom and dismay yesterday to the meeting between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he will never accept Russia's ultimatums.

- Luke Harding Kyiv Piotr Sauer

The high-stakes negotiations between the two delegations got under way in Riyadh just hours after Russia attacked Ukraine with dozens of drones. At least two people were killed and 26 injured in strikes across the country.

One drone hit the top floor of a high-rise residential building in the central city of Dolynska, in the Kirovohrad region. A mother and her two children were injured and taken to hospital. "A difficult night," said the local governor, Andriy Raikovych.

Soon after the talks concluded in Riyadh, air raid sirens wailed across the capital, Kyiv. Millions of Ukrainians were told by text message to seek shelter because of a threat from Russian ballistic missiles.

Speaking in Ankara, after a meeting with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would not accept the results of talks on how to end the war with Russia that were held "behind Ukraine's back".

"It feels like the US is now discussing the ultimatum that Putin set at the start of the full-scale war," he told reporters. "Once again, decisions about Ukraine are being made without Ukraine. I wonder why they believe Ukraine would accept all these ultimatums now if we refused them at the most difficult moment?"