Ukraine said it would support a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day cease-fire with Russia after talks in Saudi Arabia, as the United States agreed to immediately lift its pause on intelligence sharing and military assistance to Ukraine.
Ahead of the talks, Ukraine and Russia launched deadly strikes on each other’s territory, including a large-scale drone attack on Moscow.
What happened Tuesday?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz, the U.S. national security adviser, sat down in the city of Jeddah with a delegation led by Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
After more than eight hours of talks, the United States and Ukraine issued a joint statement saying that Kyiv would support the Trump administration’s proposal for a 30-day cease-fire with Russia, subject to Russia’s approval. The United States said it would resume providing military aid and intelligence to Ukraine, which it had suspended after an explosive U.S.-Ukraine meeting at the White House.
The U.S. and Ukraine also agreed to conclude “as soon as possible” a deal to develop Ukraine’s critical mineral resources.
Mr. Rubio said that the agreement now puts the pressure on Russia to end the war.
“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians, and we hope that they’ll say yes, that they’ll say yes to peace,” Mr. Rubio said at the end of the meetings. “The ball is now in their court.”
The United States has been pursuing talks separately with Russia and with Ukraine. There has been no public indication that Russia would accept an unconditional, monthlong cease-fire. And President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has signaled that he will demand concessions — such as ruling out membership in NATO for Ukraine — before agreeing to any halt in the war.
Russia was not present for the talks on Tuesday. Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, plans to visit Russia in the coming days, according to two people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss internal plans.
Ukraine and Russia trade strikes
Hours before the talks began, Russian officials said Ukraine had attacked Moscow with its largest long-range drone bombardment of the war.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said it shot down at least 91 drones before dawn in the Moscow region, along with over 240 drones targeting other parts of the country. At least three people were killed and 18 others were injured in the Moscow region, the Russian authorities said.
Kyiv has long maintained that the only way to force Russia to accept an enduring peace deal is through force and by raising the cost of the war for the Kremlin. The timing of the overnight attack on Moscow was meant to drive home that message, Andriy Kovalenko, a senior Ukrainian official focused on Russian disinformation operations, said in a statement.
Russia has also continued its relentless bombardment of Ukrainian civilian and military institutions, regularly launching more than 100 drones each night.
State of the war
Russian forces have long held the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine. In recent weeks, they also have managed to retake about two-thirds of the territory Ukraine seized last summer in the Kursk region of Russia.
But Ukrainian forces have stalled the Russian offensive in the eastern Donetsk region in recent months and have started to win back small patches of land, according to military analysts and Ukrainian soldiers. However, military analysts have been debating whether, after more than 15 months on the offensive, Russian brigades are depleted or are regrouping for a renewed push.
The war has killed and wounded more than a million soldiers in all, according to Ukrainian and Western estimates.
U.S.-Ukraine tensions
These were the first high-level, in-person talks for the United States and Ukraine since a Feb. 28 meeting at the White House in which President Trump and Vice President JD Vance castigated and berated President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he was not grateful enough for U.S. support.
Ukraine is facing the dispiriting challenge of adapting to its main ally adopting the positions of its enemy. Russia and the Trump administration question Mr. Zelensky’s legitimacy and have blamed Ukraine for starting the war.
Ukrainian officials are seeking to smooth over relations with the Trump administration. Over the weekend, French and British officials coached the Ukrainian delegation on how to talk with the Americans, a Ukrainian official with the delegation said.
Potential concessions
While European allies have pledged further support to Kyiv, Ukraine is seen as having few options for reversing Russia’s recent gains on the battlefield.
On the flight to Jeddah, Mr. Rubio said Ukraine would have to make concessions over land that Russia had taken since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war. But he also said that it would be imperative in future talks with Moscow to determine what Russia was willing to concede.
“We don’t know how far apart they truly are,” he said, referring to Ukraine and Russia.
Before Tuesday’s talks, Ukraine had insisted that any cease-fire include security guarantees, but there was no indication from the statement issued on Tuesday that any such guarantees would be provided before any interim cease-fire would take effect.
Anton Troianovski and Alan Rappeport contributed reporting.