Following a meeting in Saudi Arabia with the Ukrainians on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a ceasefire deal has been reached — next up, Russia.
Kyiv has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire contingent on Moscow’s acceptance of the terms.
“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians, and we hope that they’ll say yes,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters.
“We hope the Russians answer to that,” Rubio said. “The best goodwill gesture the Russians can provide is to say yes.”
As a show of goodwill, President Trump lifted the pause on Ukrainian aid “effective immediately” and renewed U.S. intelligence sharing.
After the preliminary ceasefire is agreed to, the real negotiating can begin.
“This is very serious. Today people will die in this war. They died yesterday, and sadly, unless there’s a ceasefire tonight, they’ll die tomorrow,” Rubio said. “The president wants that to stop.”
“We’ve gone from if this war is going to end to how this war is going to end,” national security advisor Mike Waltz told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the preliminary deal on X.
I received a report from our delegation on their meeting with the American team in Saudi Arabia. The discussion lasted most of the day and was good and constructive—our teams were able to discuss many important details.
Our position remains absolutely clear: Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war, and we want to do everything to achieve it as soon as possible and in a reliable way—so that war does not return.
At this meeting with the Americans, Ukraine proposed three key points: silence in the skies—stopping missile strikes, bombs, and long-range drone attacks; silence at sea; real confidence-building measures in this whole situation, in which diplomacy is ongoing, which primarily means the release of prisoners of war and detainees—both military and civilian—and the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly transferred to Russia.
The American side understands our arguments and considers our proposals. I am grateful to President Trump for the constructive conversation between our teams.
During today’s talks, the U.S. side proposed taking an even bigger first step—a 30-day full interim ceasefire, not only stopping missile, drone, and bomb attacks, not only in the Black Sea, but also along the entire front line.
Ukraine is ready to accept this proposal—we see it as a positive step and are ready to take it. Now, it is up to the United States to convince Russia to do the same. If Russia agrees, the ceasefire will take effect immediately.
This story is developing…
