Ukraine said that it was ready to accept an immediate 30-day cease-fire with Russia proposed by the United States, after a day of Ukraine’s American talks in Saudi Arabia.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would present the offer to Russia and that “the ball is in their courtyard”.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said it was up to the United States to convince Russia to accept the “positive” proposal.
Tuesday talks in Djeddah were the first official meeting between the two countries since the extraordinary confrontation between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
In a joint statement, the United States also declared that it would immediately reddemn the sharing of information and security assistance in Ukraine, which Washington had suspended after the unprecedented meeting.
“The two delegations have agreed to appoint their negotiation teams and immediately start negotiations to a sustainable peace which provides for the long-term security in Ukraine,” said the US-Ukraine press release.
Rubio said on Tuesday at a press conference in Djeddah that he hoped that Russia would accept the proposal.
Ukraine was “ready to stop shooting and starting to speak,” he said, and if Russia rejected the offer “, we will unfortunately know what is the obstacle to peace here”.
“Today, we have made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, who must conclude a ceasefire and immediate negotiations,” he said.
“We are going to make this offer now to the Russians and we hope they will say yes to peace. The ball is now in their courtyard,” he added.
The offer of a 30-day ceasefire goes beyond Zelensky’s proposal for a partial truce in the sea and the sky.
The Ukrainian president thanked Trump for the “constructivity” of talks in Djeddah.
In a video message, Zelensky said that Russia should “show its will to stop war or continue the war”.
“It’s time for the whole truth,” he added.
Russia launched a large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow currently controls around 20% of the Ukrainian territory.
At the White House, Trump told journalists that President Putin would accept, “let’s hope,” the proposal.
He added that he was open to invite Zelensky to Washington.
Asked by a journalist if Trump’s relationship and Zelensky was “back”, Rubio said he hoped that it was “peace” that was back on the right track.
“They are not mean girls, it is not an episode of a television program,” he said.
“Today, people will die in this war, they died yesterday and – unfortunately – unless there is a cease -fire, they will die tomorrow.”
The American and Ukrainian teams gathered after the night drone attacks Killed at least three people in Moscow – Who, according to Russia, has shown that Ukraine had rejected the use of diplomacy to end the war.
Trump and Zelensky also agreed to finalize “as soon as possible” a critical mineral agreement, according to the joint statement.
Ukraine has proposed to grant access to the United States to its reserves of rare land minerals in exchange for American security guarantees – but this was derailed by the white house row.
Rubio said that the agreement had not been the subject of Tuesday talks, but had been negotiated with Ukrainian and American treasury bills.
The American delegation in Jeddah also included the US National Security Councilor Mike Waltz and the Middle East Steve Witkoff envoy.
Witkoff is expected to go to Russia in the coming days, a source familiar with planning told the BBC, although this can change quickly.
Reaching a rapid end to the war in Ukraine was a key commitment to the American president.
He exerted increasing pressure on Zelensky to accept a ceasefire, without providing the immediate security guarantees insisted by the Ukrainian president.
Trump expressed a rare threat of additional sanctions against Moscow on Friday in an agreement for an agreement. Russia is already strongly sanctioned by the United States during the war.
Trump said he was considering the move Because “Russia” beats “Ukraine on the battlefield at the moment”.
Meanwhile, war continued on Tuesday.
Three men were killed in the Moscow region In what has been described as the largest drone attack on the Russian capital since the start of the large -scale war in Ukraine.
18 other people, including three children, were injured, said health officials in Russian Media.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 337 drones had been intercepted on Russia and that 91 of them had been killed over the Moscow region.
Ukrainian officials have reported Russian drone attacks against the kyiv capital and several other regions.
The Air Force of Ukraine said that they had shot down 79 of the 126 drones launched by Russia, as well as an ISKANDER-M ballistic missile.
It was not immediately clear if there were victims.
