UKRAINE signalled its readiness to accept a US proposal for an “immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire” following talks with a US delegation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, according to a joint statement. The statement, issued after hours of consultations between senior officials from the two countries, said the truce could be extended by mutual agreement, adding that “the United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace.” Washington has agreed to “immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine,” the statement said, adding that both sides discussed the importance of humanitarian relief efforts, particularly during the ceasefire period, ‘Xinhua’ news agency reported. Negotiators also agreed to appoint teams to begin talks aimed at reaching a lasting peace.

 

The US reaffirmed its commitment to engaging with Russian representatives, while Ukraine emphasised the need for European partners to be involved in the process, the statement said. Additionally, both nations’ leaders agreed to finalise “as soon as possible a comprehensive agreement for developing Ukraine’s critical mineral resources to expand Ukraine’s economy,” it added. The announcement followed a high-level meeting attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. The Ukrainian delegation included President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, and others. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and National Security Advisor Musaed bin Muhammad Al-Aiban also took part in the discussions. Trump says it is up to Russia to accept ceasefire deal in war with Ukraine: PRESIDENT Donald Trump said he is hopeful that Russia will agree to a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine even as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday termed it as a positive step and said it is up to the US to convince Russia to accept it. Senior officials from the US and Ukraine held talks in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday focusing on ending the over three year war between Moscow and Kyiv, which gave an indication to accept a 30-day ceasefire. “A while ago, Ukraine has agreed to the ceasefire.

 

Now we go to Russia and hopefully President Putin will agree to it also,” Trump said here soon after the Jeddah announcement. “If we get Russia to do it, that will be great. If we can’t, we keep going on and on and people are going to get killed,” he said in another video posted on his TruthSocial account. He also spoke about meetings with Russia soon, in an apparent reference to Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, who is likely to visit Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Zelenskyy said the American side understands his country’s arguments and considers their proposals and added that he is “grateful to President Trump for the constructive conversation between our teams.” “Ukraine is ready to accept this proposal—we see it as a positive step and are ready to take it. Now, it is up to the United States to convince Russia to do the same.

 

If Russia agrees, the ceasefire will take effect immediately,” Zelenskyy said hours after the announcement came from Jeddah. “During today’s talks, the US side proposed taking 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,” the Ukrainian President said in a video, text for which was posted on his official X handle too. Asserting that Ukraine’s position remains absolutely clear, he said, “Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war, and we want to do everything to achieve it as soon as possible and in a reliable way—so that war does not return.” Zelenskyy also talked about the three key points that his team proposed during the meeting with the Americans in Jeddah: silence in the skies—stopping missile strikes, bombs, and long-range drone attacks; silence at sea; real confidence-building measures in this whole situation, “in which diplomacy is ongoing, which primarily means the release of prisoners of war and detainees—both military and civilian—and the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly transferred to Russia.” There has been no official reaction from Russia as yet. Meanwhile, soon after the announcement coming in from Jeddah, the Trump Government lifted its suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, measures that were imposed a week ago in an apparent effort to push Zelenskyy for talks about ending the war.

 

 

RUSSIAN ballistic missiles killed at least five civilians in Ukraine, officials said on Wednesday, a day after the Trump administration lifted its suspension of military aid for Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion and Ukrainian officials signalled they were open to a 30-day ceasefire. The Kremlin didn’t comment on the agreement announced on Tuesday between the US and Ukraine on the provision of further military support, including intelligence sharing, and the possibility of a ceasefire that Washington backs. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that it’s important not to “get ahead” of the question of responding to the 30-day ceasefire proposal. He told reporters that Moscow is awaiting “detailed information” about it from the US and suggested Russia must get that before it can take a position. The Russian missiles killed four Syrian men between the ages of 18 and 24 on a ship docked at the southern port of Odesa late Tuesday, where it was loading Ukrainian wheat for Algeria, Infrastructure Minister Oleksii Kuleba said. Another missile killed a woman in Kryvih Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown in central Ukraine, authorities said. The American help is vital for Ukraine’s short-handed and weary army, which is having a tough time keeping Russia’s bigger military force at bay. But for Moscow, more American aid spells potentially more difficulty in achieving its war aims and likely will be a tough sell in Moscow for Washington’s peace efforts. Arms deliveries to Ukraine have already resumed through a Polish logistics centre, the foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Poland announced Wednesday. The deliveries go through a NATO and US hub in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow that’s has been used to ferry Western weapons into neighbouring Ukraine about 70 kilometres away. US President Donald Trump wants to end the three-year war and pressured Zelenskyy to enter talks. The suspension of US assistance came days after Zelenskyy and Trump argued about the conflict in a tense White House meeting. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the American delegation to Tuesday’s talks in Saudi Arabia, said that Washington would present the ceasefire offer to the Kremlin, which has so far opposed anything short of a permanent end to the conflict and hasn’t accepted any concessions. “We’re going to tell (the Russians) 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.” Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel this week to Moscow, where he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorised to comment publicly. The person cautioned that scheduling could change. French President Emmanuel Macron welcome the US-Ukraine agreement and said on X that “the ball is now clearly in Russia’s court.” Russian officials are wary about the US-Ukraine talks Russian lawmakers signalled wariness about the prospect of a ceasefire. “Russia is advancing (on the battlefield), so it will be different with Russia,” senior Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev noted in a post on the messaging app Telegram. “Any agreements (with the understanding of the need for compromise) should be on our terms, not American,” Kosachev wrote. Lawmaker Mikhail Sheremet told the state news agency ‘Tass’ that “Russia is not interested in continuing” the war but at the same time Moscow “will not tolerate begin strung along.” The outcome of the Saudi Arabia talks “puts the ball back in Russia’s court and places the onus on Washington to persuade Moscow to accept and implement the ceasefire,” John Hardie, a defence analyst and deputy director of the Russia Programme at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute. “Moscow will present itself as cooperative, but may push for agreement on basic principles for a final peace deal before agreeing to a ceasefire,” he said. “Russia may also insist on barring Western military aid to Ukraine during the ceasefire and on Ukraine holding elections ahead of a long-term peace agreement.” Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, reported Wednesday morning that the service’s chief, Sergei Naryshkin, spoke on the phone with CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Tuesday. The two discussed cooperation “in areas of common interest and the resolution of crisis situations,” according to a statement by the SVR.