After talks in Saudi Arabia, the two sides had also agreed to ceasefire “as soon as possible” a deal on Ukrainian minerals, the statement said.
In crucial talks held in Jeddah on Tuesday, Ukraine agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia and supported an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
Image Curtesy: CNN
The positive response that they agreed to ceasefire prompted President Donald Trump’s administration to lift the hold on military support and to predict the beginning to an end to three years of war.
With Trump stunning allies by applying heavy pressure on Kyiv and reaching out to Moscow, Ukrainian officials came to talks in Saudi Arabia eager to make up and had offered a partial truce on air and sea attacks.
Trump’s advisers forced for more and said Ukraine approved their proposal for a full month-long ceasefire in a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Ukrainians Have Agreed To Ceasefire
After approximately nine hours of discussions in an extravagant hotel in Jeddah, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters, “Today we made a proposal that the Ukrainians have agreed to ceasefire and walk into immediate negotiations.”
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“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they’ll say yes to peace. They have now won the game.
“If they say no then we’ll, unfortunately, know what the problem is with peace here,” Rubio said of Russia, which launched a full-scale capture of its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
Rubio said the United States would immediately resume military assistance and intelligence sharing it had cut off to pressure its wartime partner following a disastrous February 28 meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In Washington, Trump said he was ready to welcome Zelensky back to the White House and may have a talk to President Vladimir Putin this week.
Trump responded, “Well, I hope it will be over in the next few days, I’d like to see,” when a reporter inquired about the likelihood of a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine.
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“I know we have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow and some great conversations hopefully will ensue.”
In a joint statement, Ukraine and the United States said they would reach an agreement “as soon as possible” to give the United States access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
Trump wanted this as compensation for the billions of dollars in weapons sold by the United States under Joe Biden, his predecessor.
Before the dramatic on-camera showdown in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance dressed down the wartime leader and accused him of ingratitude, Zelensky was supposed to sign the agreement at the White House.
Zelensky stated that the United States must now work to persuade Russia and quickly thanked Trump for the “positive” ceasefire proposal made in Jeddah. Zelensky stated in his evening address,
“The American side understands our views and perceives our proposals, and I want to thank President Trump for the worthwhile conversation between our teams.
Russia needs to respond “clearly
Russia has increased its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and seized back land in Russia’s Kursk region that Ukrainian forces had infiltrated in an effort to gain leverage since the US cut off aid and intelligence sharing.
Hours before the Jeddah talks, Ukraine mounted a major direct attack on Moscow, with hundreds of drones slamming into the capital and other areas, leaving three people dead.
Top Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak said in Jeddah that Ukraine had made clear that its desire is peace.
Yermak told reporters, “Russia needs to say, very clearly, whether they want peace or not, whether they want to end this war they started, or not.
“Europe’s allies have been shaken by Trump’s abrupt shift on Ukraine after Biden’s strong support.
France and Germany are increasingly talking about creating a common European defense if the United States stops providing security guarantees through NATO.
However, Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz, argued that the brash president has “literally moved the entire global conversation” in favor of peace.
Waltz was responding to this. “We’ve gone from if the war is going to end to how the war is going to end,” Waltz told reporters alongside Rubio.
Waltz, who said he would speak in the coming days with his Russian counterpart, credited the Ukrainians with agreeing on the need to “end the killing, to end the tragic meat-grinder of people and national treasure”.
Be cautious allies
On Wednesday, Rubio will travel to Canada, another nation with which Trump is at odds, to meet other foreign ministers from industrial democracies in the Group of Seven.
For fear of sabotaging diplomacy, Rubio has stated that he will push the G7 to refrain from using “antagonistic” language regarding Russia.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk hailed the “important step towards peace” taken by the United States and Ukraine in Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine and a nation with a long history of relations with Russia.
There is still a lot of uncertainty in the negotiations, even if Russia agreed to ceasefire. Ukraine has pressed for security guarantees, but Trump, in another shift from Biden, has ruled out NATO membership.
According to Waltz, “substantive details on how this war is going to end permanently” and “what kind of guarantees they’re going to have for their long term security and prosperity” were discussed during the talks in Jeddah.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has mulled European forces in Ukraine as part of any deal, said Tuesday that Kyiv needs “credible” security guarantees in any ceasefire.
(published from a syndicated feed)