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Ukraine said it was ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, as the US announced it would immediately lift its restrictions on military aid and intelligence sharing after high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia.
Donald Trump said he now hoped Vladimir Putin would reciprocate. If the Russian president did, it would mark the first ceasefire in the more than three years since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The agreement, announced in a joint statement following talks between senior US and Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, came nearly two weeks after an Oval Office blowup between Trump and the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that led the White House to suspend aid to Ukraine over the objections of its European allies.
“That’s a total ceasefire,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday after the talks. “Ukraine has agreed to it. And hopefully Russia will agree to it.”
US officials said they hoped the agreement would help lead to talks to end the war. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel to Moscow in the coming days to propose the ceasefire to Putin.
It is not clear if Putin is ready to accept the ceasefire in its current form.
Trump continued: “We’re going to meet with them [the Russians] later on today and tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be able to [work] out a deal. I think the ceasefire is very important. If we can get Russia to do it, that’ll be great. If we can’t we just keep going on and people are gonna get killed, lots of people.”
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said the ball was “now in Russia’s court” after the negotiations concluded.
In London, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, welcomed the agreement, saying: “This is an important moment for peace in Ukraine and we now all need to redouble our efforts to get to a lasting and secure peace as soon as possible … Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the fighting too.” He said he would be “convening leaders this Saturday to discuss next steps”.
In a joint statement, Ukraine also said that it had “expressed readiness to accept the US 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”.
After the talks, Zelenskyy thanked Trump in a televised statement and said that Ukaine was committed to seeking a peace “so that war does not return”.
“Ukraine is ready to accept this proposal—we see it as a positive step and are ready to take it,” Zelenskyy said. “Now, it is up to the United States to convince Russia to do the same. If Russia agrees, the ceasefire will take effect immediately.”
Putin will now be forced to decide whether to conclude a temporary ceasefire or risk souring relations with the White House under the new Trump administration.
“The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace,” the statement read.
The decision came more than a week after the US cut off crucial aid to Ukraine, including deliveries of military radars and ammunition, as well as information sharing, which put significant pressure on Ukraine to agree to a US-proposed deal.
“The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear: that they share President Trump’s vision for peace,” said the US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who also joined the negotiations.
As a result, the US said it would “immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine”.
The statement also revived plans for a controversial minerals deal that would give the United States a 50% stake in revenues from the sale of Ukraine’s mineral wealth. Trump has said that the deal would provide implicit security guarantees by linking US economic interests with Ukraine’s security.
Trump and Zelenskyy will “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,” the statement read.
The marathon crunch talks in Saudi Arabia aimed to build confidence despite a personal crisis between Trump and Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy sent his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, while Trump dispatched Rubio and Waltz.
“We are ready to do everything to achieve peace,” Yermak told reporters as he arrived for the talks, held in an opulent room provided by the Gulf state.
The two sides talked for about three hours in the morning before taking a break, then into the afternoon and early evening. During the talks, Yermak posted one line on social media: “Work in progress.”
It was expected that the Ukrainians would suggest to the Americans a one-month ceasefire in the air and at sea, if Russia agreed to the same, during which time further discussions could take place on a more lasting end to the fighting.
The offer was designed to show the Americans that Ukraine was bringing constructive proposals to the table.
Rubio, on his flight out, said Washington’s main aim was to see if Kyiv was “prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form”.
Domestically, Zelenskyy’s flagging ratings were boosted by his dressing down in the White House but while there is anger at Trump’s demands, there is a strong feeling that, given the difficult situation at the front and exhaustion after three years of war, the Ukrainian president should make every effort to mend relations with the White House.
Since the debacle in Washington, Ukraine has sought to flatter Trump, to prevent a peace plan from being forced upon it. Writing in the Guardian before the talks started, Yermak complimented a “strong American leadership” but said “a peace must be found that is both just and sustainable”.
It is understood that British and French officials were particularly key in advising Kyiv on how best to put their position to the Americans. Jonathan Powell, an adviser to Starmer, is in regular contact with Yermak and visited Kyiv over the weekend. Yermak said the visit was part of “joint work with partners to develop a plan for achieving a just and lasting peace” before the Saudi summit.
The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, posted a social media update on Tuesday stressing the importance of the day’s US-Ukraine talks.
“Dear Americans, dear Ukrainians, don’t waste this chance. The whole world is watching you in Jeddah today. Good luck!” he said.
Russia had celebrated the loss of military and intelligence support from Ukraine’s largest, and previously steadfast, backer.
It remains to be seen how ready Russia is for any peace deal, even in the current scenario in which the Trump team seems to be requiring more sacrifices from Kyiv than Moscow.
On Tuesday, Putin’s spokesperson, speaking before the ceasefire proposal, said the signals from Washington were causing many in Moscow to rejoice, but added there should not be premature celebration.
“You always need to hope for the best but still be prepared for the worst, and we should always be ready to defend our interests,” Dmitry Peskov said at a conference, in comments reported by Russia’s Kommersant newspaper. “Many people are rushing to put on rose-tinted spectacles and are saying that the Americans will now stop providing weapons or have already done so, that Musk will turn all the communications systems off, and everything will work out for us. But it will work out for us anyway.”
On the battlefield, Moscow has seized the moment to launch a recent offensive in the Kursk region of western Russia, where it is trying to eject the Ukrainian army.
On Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had regained more than 100 sq km (38.6 sq miles) of territory and 12 settlements in Kursk, which was taken by Ukrainian forces seven months ago. Kyiv has said the Kursk operation was an attempt to gain a bargaining chip in future negotiations and to force Russia to shift forces from eastern Ukraine.
In an attempt to put pressure on Moscow hours before the Jeddah peace talks, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war.
The Russian defence ministry reported 337 drones were launched at Russia overnight on Monday, including 91 targeting the Moscow region, killing two people, sparking fires and disrupting flights and train services.
