# Ukraine agrees to 30-day ceasefire as US prepares to lift military aid restrictions

Joint Ukraine-US statement saying ‘ball is now in Russia’s court’ is followed by reports of an air strike on Kyiv

**Contributor:**  in Washington,  in Kyiv and 

**Date:** Tue 11 Mar 2025 15:11 EDT  
First published on Tue 11 Mar 2025 15:11 EDT

Ukraine said it was ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, as the US announced it would immediately lift its restrictions on military aid and intelligence sharing after high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump said he now hoped  would reciprocate. If the Russian president did, it would mark the first ceasefire in the more than three years since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

U.S. officials said they hoped the agreement would help lead to talks to end the war. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel to Moscow in the coming days to propose the ceasefire to Putin.

It is not clear if Putin is ready to accept the ceasefire in its current form. Trump said he is expecting to speak with Putin later this week. Russian media have reported that their conversation could take place on Friday.

Trump continued: “We’re going to meet with them  later on today and tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be able to  out a deal. I think the ceasefire is very important. If we can get Russia to do it, that’ll be great. If we can’t we just keep going on and people are gonna get killed, lots of people.”

Hours after Ukraine’s declaration,  launched an air attack on Kyiv, with mayor Vitali Klitschko saying air defences were engaged in repelling the strikes.

The agreement, announced in a joint statement following  in Jeddah, came nearly two weeks after an Oval Office blowup between Trump and the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that led the White House to suspend aid to Ukraine over the objections of its European allies.

“The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear: that they share President Trump’s vision for peace,” said the US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who also joined the negotiations.

As a result, the U.S. said it would “immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine”.

The statement also revived plans for a  that would give the United States a 50% stake in revenues from the sale of Ukraine’s mineral wealth. Trump has said that the deal would provide implicit security guarantees by linking U.S. economic interests with Ukraine’s security.

Trump and Zelenskyy will “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,” the statement read.

The marathon crunch talks in Saudi Arabia aimed to build confidence despite a personal crisis between Trump and Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy sent his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, while Trump sent Rubio and Waltz.

“We are ready to do everything to achieve peace,” Yermak told reporters as he arrived for the talks, held in an opulent room provided by the Gulf state.

The two sides talked for about three hours in the morning before taking a break, then into the afternoon and early evening.

During the talks, Yermak posted one line on social media: “Work in progress.”

It was expected that the Ukrainians would suggest to the Americans a one-month ceasefire in the air and at sea, if Russia agreed to the same, during which time further discussions could take place on a more lasting end to the fighting.

The offer was designed to show the Americans that Ukraine was bringing constructive proposals to the table.

Rubio, on his flight out, said Washington’s main aim was to see if Kyiv was “prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form”.

Russia had celebrated the loss of military and intelligence support from Ukraine’s largest, and previously steadfast, backer.

It remains to be seen how ready Russia is for any peace deal, even in the current scenario in which the Trump team seems to be requiring more sacrifices from Kyiv than Moscow.

On Tuesday, Putin’s spokesperson, speaking before the ceasefire proposal, said the signals from Washington were causing many in Moscow to rejoice, but added there should not be premature celebration.

“You always need to hope for the best but still be prepared for the worst, and we should always be ready to defend our interests,” Dmitry Peskov said at a conference, in comments reported by Russia’s Kommersant newspaper. “Many people are rushing to put on rose-tinted spectacles and are saying that the Americans will now stop providing weapons or have already done so, that Musk will turn all the communications systems off, and everything will work out for us. But it will work out for us anyway.”

On the battlefield, Moscow has seized the moment to launch a recent offensive in the Kursk region of western Russia, where it is trying to eject the Ukrainian army.

On Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had regained more than 100 sq km (38.6 sq miles) of territory and 12 settlements in Kursk, which was taken by Ukrainian forces seven months ago. Kyiv has said the Kursk operation was an attempt to gain a bargaining chip in future negotiations and to force Russia to shift forces from eastern Ukraine.

In an attempt to put pressure on Moscow hours before the Jeddah peace talks, Ukraine launched its  since the start of the war.

The Russian defence ministry reported 337 drones were launched at ia overnight on Monday, including 91 targeting the Moscow region, killing two people, sparking fires and disrupting flights and train services.
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