Good evening. I'm John Yang. Russia and Ukraine traded heavy drone strikes overnight and into this

morning, even as American and Ukrainian officials prepare to talk about how to end the war.

Kiev says Moscow's bloody weekend of aerial attacks has led to at least 22 deaths. It comes amid

a U.S. freeze on weapons shipments and intelligence sharing.

Russia released this video of what it says are drone strikes on a Ukrainian military column

in Russia's Kursk region.

The Associated Press reports that tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers there are at risk

of being encircled.

Tonight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to Saudi Arabia to meet with

Ukrainian officials on Tuesday to explore diplomatic paths to ending the war.

John Herbst is the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine-Uzbekistan. He's now senior director

of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. Mr. Ambassador President Trump's special envoys,

the goals of this meeting in Saudi Arabia are to come up with a ceasefire and the framework of a peace agreement.

How likely do you think is that to happen?

I believe that Moscow would like to continue operations, one, to pick up more Ukrainian territory before sitting down to talk,

and two, to drive Ukrainian forces out of Korsk.

If the administration's objective is to achieve, as it says, a durable peace which leaves

Ukraine sovereign, independent, economically viable, then it's going about it the wrong way.

Going about it the wrong way, why do you say that?

Because Moscow believes, especially because of the gifts that President Trump has been bestowing on him,

that it will be able to, in fact, kick the Ukrainians out of Russia and pick up more Ukrainian territory

because we are now weakening Ukraine's defense.

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