Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha (L) presents US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with a religious icon in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 11 March 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the ball was now “in Russia’s court” on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine after Kyiv accepted a US proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire during talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday which also saw Washington agree to restart its military support and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
In a joint statement issued with Kyiv upon the conclusion of talks in Jeddah on Tuesday, the US said that Ukraine had “expressed readiness to accept the US proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire” which could be extended by mutual agreement at a later date.
Following Ukraine’s acceptance of the ceasefire proposal, Washington is to restart its programme of military support for Ukraine, including its intelligence sharing with Kyiv, the statement said. The US is now set to present the same proposal to Russia, with the joint statement stressing that “Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace”.
“We’re going to tell [Russia] this is what’s on the table. Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking. And now it’ll be up to them to say yes or no”, Rubio told reporters after the talks. “If they say no, then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here”.
In his nightly address on Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was ready for the ceasefire to take effect “immediately”, provided that Russia agreed to it as well.
Kyiv had initially proposed a partial ceasefire prohibiting any missile or drone strikes, as well as combat operations in the Black Sea, the release of all prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred to Russia, Zelensky said.
However, following the US proposal, Zelensky continued, Ukraine was now ready to take an “even bigger first step — a 30-day full interim ceasefire, not only stopping missile, drone, and bomb attacks, not only in the Black Sea, but also along the entire front line”.
Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said that delegations from Washington and Kyiv would meet again next week to discuss the proposal in more detail.
US President Donald Trump said that the US had a “big meeting” with Russian representatives scheduled for Wednesday and that he hoped the ceasefire would be agreed in the “coming days”, though adding that it took “two to tango”.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, who on Tuesday did not rule out a rumoured meeting between Russian and US delegations later this week, nevertheless stressed on Wednesday morning that “the formulation of the Russian Federation’s foreign policy takes place inside the Russian Federation”, and not “abroad through some agreements or the efforts of certain parties”.
