The United States has agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv expressed “readiness” to accept a 30-day ceasefire in its conflict with Russia.
The two countries issued a joint statement after officials met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, saying that Ukraine was open to the US proposal “to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the ceasefire proposal would “establish a complete ceasefire for 30 days, not only regarding missiles, drones and bombs, not only in the Black Sea, but also along the entire front line”.
US President Donald Trump said he hoped Russia would agree to the ceasefire plan, signalling that the US will hold a meeting with Russia later on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Following the progress made in talks, the US said that it would “immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance” to Kyiv, which it had suspended last week, effectively hobbling Ukraine’s ability to track Russian troop movements, shield against missile strikes and carry out attacks.
The suspension came after a blow-up last month between Trump and Zelenskyy, who had travelled to Washington to discuss a rare earth minerals deal, which would see the US gain access to the lucrative resources in Ukraine.
The joint statement indicated that the deal was back on the table, with the two countries set to “conclude as soon as possible a comprehensive agreement for developing Ukraine’s critical mineral resources to expand Ukraine’s economy and guarantee Ukraine’s long-term prosperity and security”.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher noted that the joint statement did not include any mention of the explicit security guarantees that Zelenskyy had been seeking during his contentious meeting with Trump at the Oval Office.
“But those [security guarantees] appear to be missing at the moment. Perhaps that’s something that can be discussed, although we know that Donald Trump is really, really against that idea of explicit security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said.
‘Yes or no’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the ball was now in Russia’s court.
“We’re going to tell them 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,” he said. “If they say no, then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.”
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added: “The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear: that they share President Trump’s vision for peace.”
Waltz said negotiators “got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end”, including long-term security guarantees.
Zelenskyy said on Telegram that Ukraine was “ready for peace” and that it now fell to the US to “convince” Russia.
“Ukraine is ready for peace. Russia must show its readiness to end the war or continue the war. It is time for the full truth,” he said.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago and now holds around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is open to discussing a peace deal. But he has ruled out territorial concessions, saying Ukraine must withdraw fully from four Ukrainian regions claimed and partly controlled by Russia.
The talks in Saudi Arabia started only hours after Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region, claiming that it had struck an oil refinery near the Russian capital and a facility in Russia’s Oryol region.
The attack, in which 337 drones were downed over Russia, killed at least three employees of a meat warehouse and caused a short shutdown at Moscow’s four airports, Russian officials said.