The United States will immediately lift the pause in intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine, according to a joint statement issued after the meeting of the Ukrainian and U.S. delegations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In return, Ukraine has agreed to accept a U.S. proposal for the immediate introduction of a temporary, 30-day cease-fire, which can be extended by mutual agreement, subject to acceptance and simultaneous implementation by Russia.
The United States will convey to Russia that reciprocity from Russia is key to achieving peace, the statement said.
The high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia were the first between top U.S. officials and the Ukrainian leadership since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy clashed with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in front of journalists at the White House on Feb. 28.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was joined on the U.S. side by national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff; the Ukrainians were represented by Zelenskyy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Relations between Kyiv and Washington have been fragile since the televised Oval Office spat, with Trump halting U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine. Since the rift, Kyiv has been desperately trying to patch up relations with Washington to restore essential aid and win back support of their key backer.
Ahead of the talks, Rubio hinted on Monday evening that aid could start flowing again depending on the outcome of the upcoming talks, saying the U.S. “could have good news to announce on that front” — but added that Ukraine would have to give up some of the territory Russia has seized since 2014 for any deal to end the war.
“They’ve [Ukrainians] suffered greatly and their people have suffered greatly, and it’s hard in the aftermath of something like that to even talk about concessions,” Rubio told reporters. “But that’s the only way this is going to end to prevent more suffering.”
Ukraine has long ruled out any ceasefire agreement that includes giving up land occupied by Russia, including the Crimean Peninsula, which Russian President Vladimir Putin seized in 2014. The Ukrainian government has instead called for a “just peace” that would see the Kremlin pay reparations for its grinding three-year war.
Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war with Russia on Monday night, hours before delegations were due to meet in Saudi Arabia.
“All the drone strikes in Russia tonight — on Moscow, on airports and so on — are the signal to Putin that he also must be interested in a truce in the sky that Ukraine is going to offer today during talks. Not only oil refineries,” Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian government’s center for countering disinformation, said in a video statement.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, NATO leaders from 30 countries are gathering in Paris — without the U.S. — to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and shore up support for Kyiv. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have been leading efforts to convene a “coalition of the willing” that would support Ukraine with peacekeeping troops in the event of a peace deal.
This story is being updated.
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