Ukraine has backed a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia after talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia yesterday. The development comes over three years since the conflict between Kyiv and Moscow began. After more than eight hours of negotiations with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, Washington will now take the offer to Russia. In addition, the United States also agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
In a joint statement, Ukraine and the US said, they will conclude as soon as possible a deal securing Washington access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth. Ukraine President Zelenskyy was to sign the deal at the White House before the dramatic showdown on the 28th of last month in which US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance confronted the Ukrainian President. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has said, Russia is waiting for a briefing from the US on the proposal that calls for a halt to all the fighting on land, sea and in the air. In a podcast interview published today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, Moscow has ample reasons to distrust Ukraine and its Western backers given their history of broken promises. He accused Kyiv of consistently undermining its own interests with each act of cheating.