Ukraine accepts US-brokered ceasefire plan in deal for aid

Kateryna Chursina, Henry Meyer and Christine Burke, Bloomberg News on Mar 11, 2025

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Ukraine accepted a U.S. proposal for a 30-day truce with Russia as part of a deal with the Trump administration to lift its freeze on military aid and intelligence for Kyiv.

The agreement laid out in a joint statement follows eight hours of talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that raised the possibility of a pause of hostilities in Russia’s three-year war that’s ravaged Ukraine.

The U.S. will now take the proposal to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to seek his agreement. “Hopefully President Putin will agree to that also, and we can get this show on the road,” President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House. “It takes two to tango.”

Trump said U.S. officials will speak to their Russian counterparts on Wednesday and that it’s possible he’ll talk to Putin this week.

In Jeddah, where the talks took place, U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters that the Ukrainian delegation “made concrete steps and concrete proposals, not only accepting our proposal for a full ceasefire. We also got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end, what type of guarantees they’re going to have for their long-term security and prosperity, but also really looking at what it’s going to take to finally end the horrific fighting.”

In addition, the U.S. and Ukraine discussed the need to conduct prisoner swaps with Russia during the truce, according to the statement. And the two nations agreed to conclude “as soon as possible” a deal Trump has demanded to share in Ukraine’s mineral development.

Ahead of the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear the goal was to learn what concessions Ukraine would be willing to make to secure a possible peace deal with Russia. Afterward, Rubio told reporters that “we made an offer” and Ukraine accepted it.

In a video address to Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “during those 30 days of silence we could prepare all aspects of reliable peace and lasting security guarantees with our partners.”

“Ukraine is ready for peace,” he said. “Russia must show whether it is ready to end the war or whether it continues the war.”

The U.S. truce blueprint seeks to have Russia halt its aerial attacks with missiles, bombs and explosive-laden drones, Zelenskyy said.

Trump dispatched Rubio and Waltz to meet with the Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah after the Oval Office blow-up on Feb. 28 that led to a suspension of critical military aid to Ukraine. The U.S. tied restoring that assistance to Zelenskyy demonstrating a commitment to a diplomatic solution to end the war with Russia. Asked Tuesday if Zelenskyy will now be invited back to the White House, Trump said, “Sure, absolutely.”

Rubio and Waltz met with the Ukrainian president’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, and the country’s defense and foreign ministers, Rustem Umerov and Andrii Sybiha. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister was also present.

Zelenskyy met Monday night with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, but departed before the talks with the U.S. began.

The truce proposal comes as Ukraine is hard-pressed along the war’s frontline amid shortages of weapons and manpower. Russian forces are making a concerted attempt to dislodge Ukraine’s troops from the Kursk region in Russia, which they’ve been holding for more than seven months as a potential territorial bargaining chip in future peace talks.

Moscow mission

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is due to meet with Putin in Moscow, Bloomberg News has reported. Among incentives he can offer for Putin to accept the ceasefire is a summit meeting with Trump.

Moscow has rejected the presence of European troops in Ukraine that could act as peacekeepers in the wake of any agreement. It’s insisting on neutrality for the country and limits on its military as well as Ukraine giving up its aspiration to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Russia also has demanded that Ukraine hold a presidential election.

Western security officials caution that Putin is deliberately making maximalist demands because he knows they will be unacceptable to Ukraine and Europe and is ready to continue fighting, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the accord in Jeddah a “remarkable breakthrough” and said “the ball is now in the Russian court. Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to fighting too.”

There was no immediate response to the U.S.-Ukraine agreement from Russian officials. But Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a think tank that advises the Kremlin, said “the way it’s worded here is unlikely to satisfy anyone.”

“We have said many times that there will be no truces until conditions for a lasting peace are agreed upon,” Lukyanov said. “No conditions are specified here, everything will have to be agreed upon later.”

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(With assistance from Jordan Fabian, Alex Wickham, Daryna Krasnolutska, Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Volodymyr Verbianyi.)

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