Representatives of the United States and Ukraine meet with Saudi Arabian hosts in Jeddah on March 11, 2025.SAUL LOEB/Reuters
Ukraine has accepted a 30-day ceasefire proposal from the United States and pledged to begin negotiations with Russia toward peace, prompting the U.S. to agree to immediately restore intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine. Both sides will work toward reaching a deal to develop the country’s minerals, the U.S. said.
The proposed ceasefire is aimed at achieving “an enduring peace that provides for Ukraine’s long-term security,” according to a joint statement, but it’s unclear whether the Russians would accept such a deal.
The agreement came after more than eight hours of negotiations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, involving senior officials from both countries, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. If it succeeds, the pause in fighting would be the first significant breakthrough in ending the war since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Mr. Rubio said the proposal will be taken to the Russians. “The ball is in their court,” he told reporters. “We’re going to tell them – this is what’s on the table.”
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“Our hope is that the Russians will say yes, that they will also agree that the shooting will stop, the killing will stop, the dying will stop, and that talks can begin about how to end this war permanently in a way that’s acceptable and enduring for both sides,” he added.
Trump may pitch proposal to Putin in phone call
Russian artist Alexey Sergienko's painting "Peace to the Peace" depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump is seen in the Sergienko Gallery in Saint Petersburg on March 12, 2025.OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday that he may raise the proposal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call this week. “Ukraine has agreed to it,” Mr. Trump said. “Hopefully President Putin will agree to that also.”
Mr. Trump also said he was prepared to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky back to the Oval Office.
Under the agreement, the ceasefire would take effect immediately and it would go beyond Ukraine’s initial proposal of only halting air strikes. It could also be extended by mutual agreement.
In a statement, Mr. Zelensky said the American side “understands our arguments, accepts our proposals.” He also thanked Mr. Trump “for the constructiveness of our teams’ conversation.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, meets with Prince Saud bin Mishaal, deputy governor of Saudi Arabia's Mecca region, center right, and Saudi Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasabi in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.The Associated Press
He added that “Ukraine is ready for peace. Russia must show its readiness to end the war or continue the war. It is time for the full truth.”
It’s not clear how the ceasefire would be enforced and what security guarantees Ukraine would receive as part of any peace plan. Mr. Trump has ruled out U.S. involvement in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security and he has insisted that European countries should take the lead.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have proposed creating a coalition of countries, which could include Canada, who would play some kind of peacekeeping role. Officials from 30 nations met in Paris on Tuesday to finalize plans for the coalition. However, Mr. Putin has indicated that he won’t accept North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops as peacekeepers.
Tuesday’s negotiations in Saudi Arabia were largely an attempt to repair relations between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump. The two had a famous falling out in public during a meeting at the White House last month when Mr. Trump berated Mr. Zelensky for not being appreciative enough of American support. Shortly after the meeting, Mr. Trump halted all military assistance and intelligence sharing, saying he wanted Mr. Zelensky to demonstrate that he was interested in pursuing peace.
On Tuesday, Mr. Rubio said Ukraine was “ready to stop shooting and start talking.”
Ukraine agreed to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the conflict with Russia during talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia, the countries said in a joint statement.
Reuters
There remain plenty of obstacles for a permanent peace agreement. Mr. Zelensky listed several demands that have yet to be addressed, including the release of prisoners of war and the return of children taken to Russia. The Ukrainians have also long insisted that there should be no recognition of territory captured by Russia and guarantees that Ukraine’s military will be supported to prevent a further Russian invasion.
For its part, Russia has demanded recognition of its annexation of four Ukrainian provinces, even though its army doesn’t control the territory in all of them. The Russians also want no NATO membership for Ukraine, its full demilitarization and the removal of all sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine on Tuesday launched its biggest ever drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region, killing at least three employees of a meat warehouse, injuring 17 others and causing a short shutdown at the capital’s four airports, officials said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the overnight attack had been timed to coincide with the talks in Saudi Arabia.
Some observers in Kyiv were skeptical that Mr. Putin would accept the proposed ceasefire.
“When everyone in the West is repeating the word ceasefire, or the word negotiations, it is treated in the Kremlin as weakness,” said Andrii Osadchuk, a Ukrainian opposition MP from the Golos party. “The Kremlin strongly believe that they are in a very good position. They see that they are pushing hard and hard, and the West is stepping back.”
Mr. Osadchuk also rejected suggestions that Mr. Zelensky should bow to pressure from Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump and resign, and that Ukraine should have a presidential election.
Serhii Demediuk, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in the Kyiv International Cyber Resilience Forum 2025 on March 11.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
“We will decide by ourselves in Ukraine when we want to have next elections,” he said.
The suspension of U.S. military support and intelligence information has had a profound impact on Ukraine’s military and its security service.
U.S.-based messaging app Signal not cooperating with Ukrainian officials anymore
Serhii Demediuk, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, told a cybersecurity conference in Kyiv on Tuesday that the encrypted messaging service Signal has stopped working with Ukrainian officials on hacking cases.
“Currently, while political changes are taking place in the United States, Signal has simply stopped responding to requests from law-enforcement agencies regarding this or that information that we previously exchanged,” Mr. Demediuk said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.
Signal has become increasingly popular in Ukraine as an alternative to Telegram, which was founded in Russia. Hackers have taken advantage of the “linked devices” feature on Signal and other messaging apps. That allows the service to be used on other devices but it requires the user to scan a quick-response, or QR, code. Hackers craft malicious QR codes that link to other devices as well.
Mr. Demediuk called Signal’s lack of assistance “betraying” and said it put soldiers’ lives at risk. He hoped the lack of co-operation was a misunderstanding.
Signal did not respond to a request for comment.
With a report from Reuters