US lifts aid freeze, Ukraine ready for complete ceasefire
The US has proposed lifting the suspension of military aid, while Ukraine has accepted a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and moving towards a complete ceasefire.
According to RIA Novosti on March 12, US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine is ready for a complete ceasefire.
“I said Russia was easier on Ukraine, when it should have been the other way around. But that’s true, we hope to bring Russia into the fold. But on the Ukraine side, we have a complete ceasefire, which is good,” President Donald Trump said at a business roundtable. The event was broadcast on US television channels.
On March 11, negotiations between delegations from Ukraine and the United States took place in Saudi Arabia. On the US side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz participated; on the Ukrainian side, Foreign Minister Andrei Sibiha, Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine Andrei Yermak and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov participated.
Donald Trump's National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, said after talks with Kiev in Jeddah that the suspension of US aid to Ukraine had been lifted. At the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation also presented concrete steps and proposals to end the conflict. The two delegations agreed that the conflict in Ukraine cannot be resolved militarily, but must be resolved through negotiations. Prisoner exchanges and the humanitarian situation must be part of the negotiations.
The leaders of the United States and Ukraine have directed their governments to finalize the rare earth metals deal. While Washington has made it clear to Kiev that the deal remains important, achieving peace in Ukraine is paramount.
In the joint statement after the meeting, the two sides agreed on the following key points: Ukraine is ready to accept the US proposal to immediately implement a 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement; the US is lifting the suspension of intelligence sharing and resuming security assistance to Ukraine; Washington and Kiev have agreed to sign a comprehensive agreement on the development of Ukraine's mineral resources.
Commenting on the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian President Andrei Yermak said that if Russia agrees, Kiev will immediately begin preparations and negotiations on the next stage of the solution.
"If Russia accepts, we are ready to work tirelessly to prepare, negotiate the next stage, because, of course, this is only the first step," Yermak said at a press conference after the meeting of the US and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia, broadcast by the Ukrainian TV channel "Public".
At the same time, when asked about whether territorial concessions would be discussed at the meeting in Saudi Arabia, Yermak said the format of the meeting was not conducive to discussing “very specific details.”