The Trump administration has lifted its suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. This decision comes after a week-long pause meant to encourage Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to start peace talks with Russia. Following discussions in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine has expressed willingness to agree to a 30-day ceasefire, but only if Russia also agrees.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States will present the ceasefire proposal to Russia. He explained that Ukraine is ready to stop fighting and begin negotiations, but now it is up to Russia to respond. Rubio added that if Russia refuses, it will be clear who is preventing peace. National security adviser Mike Waltz emphasized that Ukraine supports President Trump’s approach to ending the war. He also mentioned that negotiators discussed key details, including long-term security measures, to ensure a permanent resolution to the conflict.
The announcements emerged as senior officials from Ukraine and the United States opened talks in Saudi Arabia focused on ending Moscow’s three-year war against Kyiv. The discussions started only hours after Russia shot down over 300 Ukrainian drones. It was Ukraine’s biggest attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbour. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel later this week to Moscow, where he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment publicly. The person cautioned that scheduling could change.
Earlier in the day, journalists were briefly allowed in a room where a senior Ukrainian delegation met with Rubio, who smiled at the cameras and when asked about his expectations for the meeting, gave a thumbs-up and replied, “Good.” Across the table, Ukrainian officials, including the country’s top diplomat and defence chief, showed no facial expressions as the meeting got underway at a luxury hotel. However, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak told reporters that the most important thing was “how to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” He said security guarantees were important to prevent Russia from invading again in the future. It was the first meeting between the two sides since the Oval Office blowup between Trump and Zelenskyy last month.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister was also on hand as American, Saudi and Ukrainian flags could be seen in the background. Officials did not answer any of the journalists’ shouted questions. The delegations met for about three hours in the morning before taking a break, and officials said the talks continued in the afternoon. There was also no immediate comment from Ukrainian or US officials on the massive attack in which 343 drones targeted 10 Russian regions, leaving three people dead and 18 wounded, including three children, officials said.
Meanwhile, Russia launched 126 drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, as part of Moscow’s relentless pounding of civilian areas during the war. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the United States will inform Russia about the results of the Jeddah talks, which he described as “normal practice.” On the streets of Kyiv, Ukrainians kept an eye on the Saudi talks. Lena Herasymenko, a psychologist, said she accepts that compromises will be necessary to end the war, but she said they must be “reasonable.” “We had massive losses during this war, and we don’t know yet how much more we’ll have,” she told The Associated Press. “We are suffering every day. Our kids are suffering, and we don’t know how the future generation will be affected.” Oleksandr, a Ukrainian soldier who could give only his first name because of security restrictions, warned that Ukraine cannot let down its guard down.
“If there is a ceasefire, it would only give Russia time to increase its firepower, manpower, missiles and other arms. Then they would attack Ukraine again,” he said. The meeting in Jeddah offered an opportunity for Kyiv officials to repair Ukraine’s relationship with the Trump administration after an unprecedented argument erupted during Zelenskyy’s Feb 28 visit to the White House. The Kremlin has not publicly offered any concessions. Russia has said it’s ready to cease hostilities on condition that Ukraine drops its bid to join NATO and recognizes regions that Moscow occupies as Russian. Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
Russian forces have held the battlefield momentum for more than a year, though at a high cost in infantry and armour, and are pushing at selected points along the 1,000-km front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region, against Ukraine’s understrength and weary army. Ukraine has invested heavily in developing its arms industry, especially high-tech drones that have reached deep into Russia. Most of the Ukrainian drones fired overnight — 126 of them — were shot down over the Kursk region across the border from Ukraine, parts of which Kyiv’s forces control, and 91 were shot down over the Moscow region, according to a statement by Russia’s Defence Ministry.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said over 70 drones targeted the Russian capital and were shot down as they were flying toward it — the biggest single attack on Moscow so far in the war. The governor of the Moscow region surrounding the capital, Andrei Vorobyov, said the attack damaged several residential buildings and a number of cars. Flights were temporarily restricted in and out of six airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky just outside Moscow, and airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
(With agency inputs)
