March 11 (UPI) — Officials for Ukraine and the United States have proposed a 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine and await a response from Russia following peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.
U.S. officials agreed to immediately end a temporary ban on sharing intelligence with Ukraine while resuming “security assistance,” representative of the two nations said Tuesday in a joint statement.
“Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day cease-fire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,” the joint statement says.
U.S. officials will communicate to Russia that “Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace,” the statement says.
Ukrainian and U.S. officials will name their respective negotiating teams to immediately undertake negotiations to achieve a permanent peace that supports Ukraine’s long-term security.
U.S. officials will discuss specific proposals with Russian representatives, and Ukrainian officials said its European partners must be involved in the peace process.
The delegations also discussed the need for humanitarian assistance as part of the peace process, including exchanging prisoners of war, releasing civilian detainees and returning children forcibly removed from Ukraine by Russia.
U.S. and Ukrainian representatives also said the respective presidents of each nation will conclude a minerals deal as soon as possible to expand Ukraine’s economy and guarantee its long-term prosperity and security, according to the joint statement.
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said Tuesday that a new round of peace talks with the United States is headed in the right direction.
Serving as the chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Yermak attended the talks in Saudi Arabia and said the “the meeting with the U.S. team started very constructively.”
He also posted a brief note to X simply stating “Work in progress” with both Ukrainian and American flags, and another post with a hands-shaking emoji over photos of both countries’ delegations exiting a room.
Zelensky was not present, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz did take part. A question asking about how the meeting was going from a CNN reporter was met from Waltz with a simple “getting there.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Ukraine must surrender some of the territory seized by Russia 11 years ago if it hopes to ever end the ongoing war between the two countries.
Yermak did not publicly express what compromises, if any, Ukraine would make in order to get a peace deal in place, but did say that security guarantees from the U.S. would be “very important” to keep possible future Russian aggression at bay.
“Now we think it’s necessary to discuss the most important: how to start this process,” he told reporters Tuesday.
The summit took place only hours following a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia that its Ministry of Defense said targeted the Moscow region, killing three people and wounding six.
Rubio, speaking with reporters Monday, noted that while Ukrainians have “suffered greatly and their people have suffered greatly,” and admitting that “it’s hard in the aftermath of something like that to even talk about concessions,” he said that it’s “the only way this is going to end to prevent more suffering.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and seized lands including the Crimean Peninsula, and Ukraine has long refused any cease-fire agreement that includes permanently surrendering any of its captured lands.
The Tuesday talks in Saudi Arabia are the first between Ukraine’s leadership and top U.S. officials since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office on Feb. 28 in a heated exchange that saw Trump expel Zelensky from the White House.
Trump has since paused all U.S. military aid for Ukraine.
Zelensky is however in Saudi Arabia and has already met with Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, posting to X Monday that during their meeting he “specifically emphasized the issue of the release of prisoners and the return of our children, which could become a key step in building trust in diplomatic efforts,” but made no mention of any talks in regard to the surrendering or returning of captured land.
Rubio added that he wasn’t “going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do,” but the U.S. delegation would be seeking to learn what Kyiv is “willing to do in order to achieve peace” and end the war. He has hinted that the United States could restart providing military assistance, depending on how the talks play out.
“It may be incompatible with what the Russians are willing to do,” Rubio said about the concession of Ukrainian land to Russia, but “That’s what we need to find out.”
