Ukraine ready to accept 30-day ceasefire proposal

Jeddah — The US agreed on Tuesday to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine immediately after talks in Saudi Arabia where Kyiv voiced readiness to accept a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its conflict with Russia, the countries said in a joint statement.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio said he would take the offer to the Russians, and that the ball is now in Moscow’s court.

“The president wanted this war to end yesterday ... So our hope is that the Russians will answer ‘yes’ as quickly as possible, so we can get to the second phase of this, which is real negotiations,” Rubio said after the statement was issued.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Saudi Arabia but did not participate in the talks, said the ceasefire was a “positive proposal” that covers the front line in the conflict, not just fighting by air and sea.

The two sides also said Washington and Kyiv agreed to conclude a comprehensive agreement as soon as possible for developing Ukraine’s critical mineral resources, a deal that has been in the works for weeks and was thrown into limbo by an acrimonious White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky last week.

Zelensky said the two countries would work to finalise the minerals agreement.

A top aide to Zelensky said options for security guarantees to Ukraine were discussed with US officials. The aide did not give further details.

Ukrainian and US officials held crunch talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to find a path towards ending the war with Russia, hours after Kyiv’s forces launched their largest drone attack on Moscow to date.

Ukraine’s anxious European allies are watching for any sign of an improvement, or further deterioration, in Kyiv’s relations with Trump’s Washington, which has upended US policy on the war and piled pressure on Ukraine.

In particular, the US’s decision to stop military assistance and pause intelligence sharing with Kyiv alarmed allies. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had told Trump on Monday that he hoped those moves could be reversed as a result of the talks.

Ukraine overnight launched its biggest drone attack on Moscow yet, deploying at least 91 drones, killing at least three people, sparking fires, closing airports and forcing dozens of flights to be diverted, Russian officials said.

It comes as Zelensky has been calling on his European allies to support the air and sea truce idea that he says would be a chance to test Moscow’s willingness to end the war.

As the diplomacy plays out, Ukraine’s battlefield positions are under heavy pressure, particularly in Russia’s Kursk region where Moscow’s forces have launched a push to flush out Kyiv’s troops, which had been trying to hold a patch of land as a bargaining chip.

Zelensky’s Oval Office clash with Trump had left the signing of a bilateral minerals deal in limbo and Kyiv’s bid to obtain security guarantees from Washington adrift.

Rubio told reporters on Monday en route to Jeddah that the talks with Kyiv would be important to gauge if Ukraine was willing to make concessions to reach peace.

Zelensky has said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin does not want peace and warned that Russia could attack other European countries if its invasion of Ukraine does not result in a clear defeat.

Russia holds about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and its troops are pressing on the eastern Donetsk region.

US and Russian officials met in the Saudi capital in February in a rare encounter between the former Cold War foes. The discussions were focused largely on restoring ties after a near-total freeze on official contact under former US president Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor.

Reuters