(CN) — Ukraine on Tuesday agreed to accept a U.S. proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire during talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia in what could be a first step toward ending the war in Europe through diplomacy.
In return for agreeing to the ceasefire, the United States said it would resume sharing military intelligence with Kyiv and providing it with military aid. U.S. President Donald Trump cut off both following a row he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
The U.S. said it would present Russia with Ukraine’s offer. There was no immediate reaction from Moscow, but it has said it would not accept a temporary ceasefire.
Nonetheless, Tuesday’s offer by Ukraine was a significant breakthrough in diplomacy after three years of relentless war since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of his southern neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022. The last negotiations to stop the fighting broke down in the spring of 2022 following talks in Istanbul.
Diplomatic efforts have accelerated following Trump’s return to the White House and his insistence that he can bring the war to an end.
Tuesday’s announcement came only hours after Kyiv launched its biggest drone attack yet on Moscow in an apparent effort to push the Kremlin toward accepting a ceasefire.
In a statement, Kyiv and Washington said they “took important steps toward restoring durable peace for Ukraine.”
Speaking to reporters, Rubio said the U.S. would present Ukraine’s offer to Russia and that “the ball is in their court.”
Mike Waltz, the U.S. national security adviser, said the Ukrainian delegation shared “President Trump’s vision for peace.” He said he would speak to his Russian counterpart “in the coming days.”
Zelenskyy in a statement said his country is “ready for peace” and the U.S. “must convince” Russia to agree to the proposal.
“Ukraine is ready for peace. Russia must show its readiness to end the war or continue the war.” he said. “It is time for the full truth.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday presided over discussions in Paris for plans to send peacekeeping troops drawn from a “coalition of the willing” to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. American officials were absent from those talks.
The meeting in Saudi Arabia was the first high-level encounter between U.S. and Ukrainian officials since Zelenskyy clashed with Trump in the Oval Office on Feb. 28.
Despite the accelerating pace of diplomacy, the chances of a truce remain unclear and perhaps far from good.
On Tuesday, Ukraine and Russia showed no sign of wanting to end the war as both continued to pound each other.
Kyiv launched a massive drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region, striking an important pipeline that feeds oil to Hungary, an act that angered Budapest. At least three people were killed and 18 others were injured in the Moscow region, according to Russian authorities.
Russia, too, launched a wave of drones against Ukraine and one ballistic missile overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. At least one person was killed when a Russian drone struck a warehouse in Kharkiv and at least 17 others were injured in attacks elsewhere in the country, Ukrainian authorities said.
On the flight to Saudi Arabia, Rubio told reporters that Ukraine would need to give up territories Russia has seized since 2014 before a lasting deal to end the war could be reached.
“The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at last pause it in some way,” Rubio said on Monday.
In Saudi Arabia, Ukraine was represented by Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Yermak said his delegation was “very open” to bringing about an agreement to end the war, but he stressed the importance of security guarantees for Ukraine. The U.S. so far has rejected giving Ukraine such a guarantee.
Also on the table Tuesday was a deal giving the U.S. a major stake in the country’s natural resources, most importantly its rare earth minerals. After the talks, the two sides said they hoped to conclude a deal as soon as possible.
The Oval Office clash was sparked in part by Zelenskyy’s unwillingness to sign the deal without getting long-term U.S. security guarantees in return. Trump argued opening Ukraine to American investors would lead to an American interest in protecting Ukraine.
Before Tuesday’s announcement, the White House strategy seemed focused on getting Ukraine to make enough concessions to entice Putin into accepting an indefinite truce.
But Ukrainian leaders say they are reluctant to sign onto an indefinite truce without getting security assurances from the U.S. to ensure they won’t be attacked by Russia again. Going into the talks, Kyiv said it would agree to a temporary truce to air and sea strikes while allowing ground attacks to continue. The United Kingdom and France came up with this plan.
Kyiv and its European backers may be hoping Putin rejects Tuesday’s truce proposal so they can argue that Russia is against ending the war.
Prior to Tuesday, Trump was under pressure from Europe and Kyiv to resume both military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine. They also want Washington to impose new sanctions on Russia unless it accepts to enter a ceasefire.
Trump threatened to abandon Ukraine and leave it on its own unless it accepted his plans on bringing the war to an end.
For his part, Putin may be willing to accept a ceasefire under certain conditions. Besides getting Ukraine to recognize Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine, Putin may be enticed by a lifting of economic sanctions.
In recent days, Russian forces have made big gains in pushing Ukrainian troops completely out of Kursk, a Russian region Ukraine invaded in August 2024 and partially occupied. This development might also make Putin more willing to sign a truce because Ukraine hoped to use its occupation of Kursk as a bargaining chip to get Russia to give up Ukrainian territory it has seized in exchange for a withdrawal from Kursk.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said it was “impossible to talk about positions now.”
Putin’s made big demands that include a guarantee Ukraine does not join NATO, a withdrawal of long-range missiles and troops from Russia’s borders and the holding of new presidential elections in Ukraine. Putin views Zelenskyy as illegitimate because he canceled elections in the spring of 2024 due to the war and the Kremlin hopes to get someone more to its liking in charge in Kyiv.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, is scheduled to visit Russia this week to hold talks with Kremlin officials.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.