A Ukrainian soldier at a training range in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, 7 March 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE / MARIA SENOVILLA
Ukrainian officials are to propose a partial ceasefire with Russia during bilateral talks with the United States on ending the war, which are due to take place in Saudi Arabia this week, The Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday.
Citing unnamed officials briefed on the negotiations, which are due to take place in Jeddah on Tuesday, the FT said that Kyiv hoped that its ceasefire proposal, which would prohibit both Russia and Ukraine from launching long-range drone and missile strikes as well as undertaking combat operations in the Black Sea, would demonstrate its commitment to peace.
Kyiv’s principal objectives at the talks, according to the FT, were to “normalise” its strained relations with the US in the wake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s confrontation with US President Donald Trump in the White House last month, as well as to convince Washington to restart both military aid and intelligence sharing with its nominal ally.
On Sunday, Trump said the US had already “just about” ended its pause on sharing intelligence with Ukraine and that he expected “a lot of progress” to be made at the talks, though he also reiterated that Kyiv should “want peace” and that Ukrainian officials had not yet shown that desire “to the extent they should”.
In an interview with Fox News earlier on Sunday, Trump continued to harshly criticise Zelensky, accusing him of having taken money from the US “like candy from a baby” under former president Joe Biden and of not being sufficiently grateful for US aid.
Trump also rebuffed claims that he had been siding with Moscow in talks on ending the war in Ukraine, telling the network that “nobody has been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump”.
Though Zelensky is due to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman on Monday, he is expected to leave a team headed by his Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov in the country for the talks. The US delegation to the talks is made up of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Zelensky declared on Saturday that Kyiv was “fully committed to constructive dialogue” and that the Ukrainian negotiating team hoped to discuss and agree on the “realistic proposals” on the table “quickly and effectively”.
