The US has agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after talks where Kyiv said it would accept a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its conflict with Russia, the countries said in a joint statement yesterday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would now take the offer to Russia, and that the ball is 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 told reporters, referring to US President Donald Trump, after more than eight hours of talks in Jeddah.
The Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, and Russia, which has been making advances, now holds around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Rubio said Washington wanted a full agreement with both Russia and Ukraine “as soon as possible.”
“Every day that goes by, this war continues, people die, people are bombed, people are hurt on both sides of this conflict,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is open to discussing a peace deal. But he has ruled out territorial concessions and has said Ukraine must withdraw fully from four Ukrainian regions claimed and partly controlled by Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was in Saudi Arabia but did not participate in the talks, said the ceasefire was a “positive proposal,” that covers the frontline in the conflict, not just fighting by air and sea.
In Saudi Arabia, the US and Ukraine also said they agreed to conclude as soon as possible a comprehensive agreement 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 the Republican US president and Zelenskiy last week.
A top aide to Zelenskiy said options for security guarantees to Ukraine were discussed with US officials.
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulazziz Al Saud met Zelenskiy and discussed efforts to achieve “sustainable fair, and comprehensive” peace in Ukraine. The leaders said they will boost investment relations between the two countries in sectors including energy, food industries and infrastructure.
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