Ukraine said it would support the Trump administration’s proposal to hold a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, the news comes after hours of meetings in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, when the U.S. agreed to immediately cancel intelligence sharing with Christians and restore military aid.
Talks in the coastal city of Jeddah of Saudi Arabia brought new momentum and stopped the outbreak of negotiations that faltered after a public confrontation between Ukraine and the U.S. president.
The Trump administration suspended all military aid and intelligence sharing after the battle meeting in Washington.
Russian drones targeted Moscow in the war’s largest attack on the Russian capital, Russian officials said.
In the statement, the United States and Ukraine acknowledged that any terms of the ceasefire would be approved by Russia. There was no immediate comment on the ceasefire discussion in Moscow, with no officials in the negotiations.
“If Russia does this, Ukraine says it is ready to accept the U.S. proposal to immediately formulate a 30-day ceasefire,” the statement said. It added: “The United States will communicate to Russia that Russia’s reciprocity is the key to achieving peace.”
At the end of the meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agreement now ended the war with pressure on Russia.
“We’re giving this proposal to the Russians now and we hope they will say yes, they will say “yes” to peace,” Rubio said. “The ball is on their court now.”
The United States has been negotiating separately from Russia and Ukraine. There are no public signs that Russia will accept an unconditional, one-month ceasefire.
Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin said he would demand concessions (such as excluding NATO membership to Ukraine) and then agree to any pause in the war, which began in 2022, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and killed or injured one million soldiers on both sides.
Putin suggested at his annual press conference in December that the ceasefire would give Ukrainian troops the opportunity to supplement and train their personnel. “We don’t need a truce,” he said. “We need peace, long-term and lasting peace.”
Mr. Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he believes he will talk to Mr. Putin this week and he hopes to negotiate a lasting ceasefire in the coming days.
The United States and Ukraine also agreed to “as soon as possible” a deal to develop Ukraine’s oil, gas and mineral resources, which was suspended after the Oval Office clashed, the joint statement said Tuesday. The agreement aims to “expand Ukraine’s economy and ensure long-term prosperity and security in Ukraine,” the statement said.
It added that the United States and Ukraine also discussed humanitarian relief efforts and prisoner-of-war exchanges that occurred during the ceasefire.
“The representatives of both countries praised the bravery of the Ukrainian people in defending their own country and agreed that it is time to start the process of continuing peace,” the statement said.
The U.S. delegation in Jeddah was led by Mr. Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. They met with a delegation of Kyiv, led by Ukrainian Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha; Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Ukraine insisted that any ceasefire would include security guarantees ahead of the talks, but the statement issued on Tuesday showed no indication that any such guarantees would be provided before any temporary ceasefire takes effect.
Mr. Walz told reporters that security assurance is part of the Jeddah dialogue.
“We also detail the substantive details of how this war will end permanently, what types of assurances they will provide for their long-term security and prosperity,” Walz said.
According to Ukrainian commanders, Russian troops have been rapidly occupying territory in Russia last summer, especially in the fight, especially in the Kursk region of Russia.
The Russian military said on Tuesday that it had relocated from Ukraine in the Kursk region.
The War Institute at the Washington Institute said the “time correlation” between U.S. intelligence sharing and Ukraine’s intelligence sharing and Russian progress in Kursk is “notable.”
It is not clear from the joint statement whether the ceasefire will cover Ukrainian land captured in Kursk.
“You’ve talked enough. You won’t win,” Trump told Mr. Zelensky during a confrontation between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He added at the end of the TV confrontation: “It’s going to be great TV.”
The consequences have been echoing since then, prompting Ukraine’s European allies to guarantee further support. On Tuesday, Mr. Rubio suggested it was time to move forward from the White House clash.
“Hopefully the right track here is peace,” Mr. Rubio said. “This is not ‘despicable girl’. It’s not some plot of the TV show.”
Mr. Yermak, the chief of Ukrainian leadership of negotiators, thanked the United States for its “constructive” talks. “A fair peace is the most important thing for us,” he wrote on social media. “We want a lasting peace.”
In a night video speech calling the Ukrainians, Mr. Zelensky said the Ukrainian delegation attended the talks on Tuesday and proposed a partial truce, covering only air bombing and fighting in the Black Sea.
He said the U.S. delegation proposed a full ceasefire. Mr Zelensky said a “important factor” in the negotiations was the U.S. commitment to restoring military and intelligence aid, although he did not take the problem directly to accept the ceasefire.
Pavlo Palisa, a military adviser to the Ukrainian talks, suggested in a statement posted on Facebook that a proposal to restore U.S. military and intelligence assistance led to the acceptance of a ceasefire.
It is a suggestion, though not directly stated, Mr. Trump’s strong strategy of negotiating aid to withdraw plays a role in reaching an agreement. Colonel Palisa wrote: “We are ready for a full ceasefire and in return, the United States agreed to resume security assistance and intelligence sharing.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the statement a “important moment for peace in Ukraine” on Tuesday and said he would call leaders this weekend to discuss the next step.
“I warmly welcome the agreement in Jeddah today and congratulate President Trump and President Zelensky on this breakthrough,” Stamer said.
War in Ukraine broke out along nearly 700 miles of war, passing through fields, forests and towns in the eastern part of the country. Longer weapons such as howitzers and explosive drones put all movements in danger in the first 10 miles or so.
The communiqué does not provide details on how to conduct a ceasefire; the past agreements to cease combat have proved very complex since Russia first conducted a military intervention in Ukraine in 2014.
Reported by Marc Santora and Nataliia Novosolova from Kiev, Ukraine; Yurii Shyvala Lviv from Ukraine; Anton Troynovsky from Berlin; Ivan Nechepurenko from Tbilisi, Georgia; Maggie Haberman from Washington; Aurelien Breeden from Paris; Stephen Castle from London; and Adam Rasgon From Jerusalem.
