Ukraine willing to accept 30-day ceasefire with Russia as U.S. lifts freeze on aid and intelligence

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — The U.S. and Ukraine said Kyiv would accept a 30-day ceasefire with Russia after talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with Washington pledging to immediately lift a freeze on intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine. 

“Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,”  the U.S. and Ukraine said in a joint statement released by the State Department. “The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace.”

The agreement came after more than eight hours of negotiations between Ukrainian officials and a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

The statement said the U.S. “will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.” Both were frozen in the wake of an explosive meeting between Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump at the White House on Feb. 28. 

The now-unfrozen military aid includes roughly $1 billion in equipment that was approved by the Biden administration and has not yet been delivered. The Trump administration has the authority to provide another $3.8 billion in aid but has not announced any further aid packages. Ukraine has been buoyed by the U.S. and other Western allies in its fight against Russia since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in 2022, and the move to cut off aid left Kyiv at a disadvantage and European allies scrambling.

Whether Russia will support a ceasefire remains to be seen. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, will be traveling to the country in the coming days, according to a person familiar with the planning. Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than three hours in February.

In a press briefing following the meeting, Rubio said “the ball is now in [Russia’s] court.”

“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians. And we hope that they’ll say yes, that they’ll say yes to peace,” Rubio said. “The president’s objective here is, number one, above everything else, he wants the war to end, and I think today Ukraine has taken a concrete step in that regard. We hope the Russians will reciprocate.”

The statement from the U.S. and Ukraine said they would each “name their negotiating teams and immediately begin negotiations toward an enduring peace that provides for Ukraine’s long-term security.”

It also said Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy would “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.” Washington has been pushing Kyiv to sign a deal which would grant the U.S. access to its mineral reserves, and Zelenskyy indicated his readiness to sign a deal ahead of the talks.

Rubio led the U.S. delegation to Saudi Arabia, supported by Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz. Zelenskyy was visiting Saudi Arabia at the time of the talks, but did not participate.

Ahead of the talks, a senior Ukrainian official said his message to the U.S. team was the Kyiv was ready to make a peace deal with Russia, and that while Zelenskyy might still want Western security guarantees as part of the deal to deter any future Russian aggression, the focus was “how to start this process.”

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said his delegation’s central message for the U.S. was that “Ukrainians want a peace,” and that Ukraine was “ready to go” to work toward that goal.

When asked about security guarantees, Yermak said they were “very important, because we want that never, this aggression, [is] never repeated in the future again. Of course, it’s very important. But now we think it’s necessary to discuss, [with] the most importance, how to start this process.”

contributed to this report.