JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA — U.S. and Ukrainian officials met Tuesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for talks on efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine, with both sides saying Kyiv supports a U.S. proposed 30-day ceasefire.
A joint statement released after the talks said, “Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation. The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace.
It added that the U.S. will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz led the U.S. delegation in Jeddah amid President Donald Trump’s push to broker a swift end to the war that began in early 2022 with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not take part in Tuesday’s meetings, with Ukraine represented by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and military commander Pavlo Palisa.
Yermak told reporters just before the start of Tuesday’s meeting that Ukraine is ready “to do everything to achieve peace.”
When asked if Ukraine is seeking security guarantees, Yermak said ‘yes’ and that Ukraine wants to ensure that Russia never repeats its aggression.
Rubio said Monday the United States hopes to resolve the pause in aid to Ukraine.
He said the U.S. is in a listening mode and aims to understand what concessions Ukraine might be willing to make.
“The Ukrainians are already receiving all defensive intelligence information as we speak. I think all the notion of the pause in aid, broadly, is something I hope we can resolve. Obviously, I think what happens tomorrow will be key to that,” Rubio told reporters aboard a military plane before landing in Jeddah.
“We're not going to be sitting in a room drawing lines on a map, but just get a general sense of what concessions are in the realm of the possible for them [Ukrainians],” Rubio said, adding that there is no military solution to the war, and that both Russia and Ukraine need to “do difficult things.”
Later on Monday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Rubio in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.
Salman held a separate meeting with Zelenskyy in Riyadh earlier in the day.
Mineral deal?
Trump has voiced interest in making continued military aid conditional on access to Ukraine's raw materials.
More than four dozen minerals, including several types of rare earths, nickel and lithium, are considered critical to the U.S. economy and national defense. Ukraine has large deposits of uranium, lithium and titanium.
Following Tuesday’s talks, the joint statement said both sides agreed to “conclude as soon as possible a comprehensive agreement for developing Ukraine’s critical mineral resources to expand Ukraine’s economy and guarantee Ukraine’s long-term prosperity and security.”
An agreement on the matter had been expected to be signed last month by Trump and Zelenskyy but was canceled after their tense Oval Office meeting February 28.
For Rubio, this marks the second visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office. He and other senior U.S. officials held talks with Russian officials in Riyadh on February 18. He is scheduled to travel to Canada on Wednesday for meetings with G7 foreign ministers.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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