Good evening. I'm Jeff Bennett.

And I'm Amna Nawaz. On the news hour tonight, U.S. officials meet with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia to discuss the end of the war in Ukraine without European or Ukrainian representatives at the table.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency Group faces fresh criticism for seeking access

to sensitive taxpayer data from the IRS.

And amid unsubstantiated claims about water management, we examine the truth about fighting fires

in Southern California after last month's devastating blazes.

Our urban water systems are designed

to help us put out a house fire or a couple of house fires.

They're not designed to deal with a massive kinds

of wildfires that swept through the Los Angeles area.

The the Los Angeles area.

Welcome to the News Hour. Today, top Russian and U.S. officials met in person for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine

more than a thousand days ago. The goal, they said, was to chart a path towards peace.

And there was more. The U.S. and Russia raised the possibility of lifting the sanctions

they've aimed at each other. They also agreed to work toward restoring staffing at their

embassies. But there was one glaring

omission. Ukrainian officials were not in the room. It was a face-to-face not seen in almost three years.

U.S. officials led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia

to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine

and chart a path toward improving bilateral relations. After more than four hours behind closed

doors, the U.S. delegation said it saw hints of progress. We couldn't have imagined a better result

after this session. It was very, very solid.

...