The Trump administration resumed military and intelligence support to Ukraine yesterday after Kyiv agreed to an “immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire” in its war against Russian invaders, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said after a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Ukrainian delegation arrived at the talks with a proposal for a limited ceasefire covering only aerial and sea-based attacks, but President Donald Trump “wanted to see” Ukrainian and Russian forces “stop shooting at each other,” including on the front lines, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the U.S. delegation. “That’s the commitment we got today from the Ukrainian side.”
Yesterday’s joint communiqué did not mention the “security guarantee Ukrainians say is necessary to deter Russia from invading following a cessation of hostilities,” The Washington Post said. But the “mere fact” that the U.S. and Ukraine could agree on a statement “of substance” marked a “significant improvement in relations after the row” in the Oval Office between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz said the talks “got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end” and “what type of guarantees” Ukraine will “have for their long-term security and prosperity.” There has been “no public indication that Russia would accept an unconditional, monthlong ceasefire,” The New York Times said, and previous pauses in the 11-year conflict “have proved devilishly complicated.”
“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians, and we hope that they’ll say yes,” Rubio said after yesterday’s eight-hour meeting. “The ball is now in their court,” and “if they say no, then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.” In Washington, Trump said he hoped to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin and get agreement “over the next few days.” His special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to meet with Putin in Moscow this week.
Discussion about this post