The United States agreed on Tuesday to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine immediately after talks in Saudi Arabia in which Kyiv voiced readiness to accept a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its conflict with Russia, the countries said in a joint statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would now 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 told reporters, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump, after the statement was issued.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 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.
The two sides also said Washington and Kyiv 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 Trump and Zelenskyy last week.
Zelenskyy said the two countries would work to finalize the minerals agreement.
The meeting Tuesday was the first between the two sides since the Oval Office blow-up between Trump and Zelenskyy last month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s key message to the U.S. was all but drowned out when an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump devolved into a public shouting match. CBC’s Ellen Mauro cuts through the chaos of that day to reveal what Ukraine was really after and how a history of diplomatic disappointment has left the country desperate for U.S. security guarantees.
The meeting in Jeddah offered an opportunity for Kyiv officials to repair Ukraine’s relationship with the Trump administration after an unprecedented argument erupted during Zelenskyy’s Feb. 28 visit to the White House.
Critically, Ukraine needed to persuade Washington to end the U.S. suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing after the blowout. U.S. officials have said that positive talks in Jeddah could mean that the pause is short.
Kremlin sticking to its conditions for peace
The Kremlin has not publicly offered any concessions. Russia has said it’s ready to cease hostilities on condition that Ukraine drops its bid to join NATO and recognizes regions that Moscow occupies as Russian. Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
Russian forces have held the battlefield momentum for more than a year, though at a high cost in infantry and armour, and are pushing at selected points along the 1,000-kilometre front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region, against Ukraine’s weary army.
Ukraine has invested heavily in developing its arms industry, especially high-tech drones that have reached deep into Russia.
The European Union is considering a more than $1-trillion aid plan for Ukraine and ramping up defence spending after U.S. President Donald Trump’s suspension of military aid to Kyiv fuelled concerns the EU can no longer rely on U.S. protection from Russian aggression.
