Zelensky accepts US proposal for 30-day ceasefire in crunch Saudi Arabia talks

Ukraine has accepted Donald Trump’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia during crunch talks in Saudi Arabia in which the US agreed to lift its pause on intelligence sharing and “security assistance”.

After more than eight hours of talks in the coastal city of Jeddah between US and Ukrainian officials, there was fresh optimism that peace talks were back on track after last month’s calamitous meeting between the US president and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Trump administration subsequently suspended intelligence sharing and military aid with Ukraine in order to pressure Mr Zelensky to enter talks to end the war with Vladimir Putin’s invading forces.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said he would now take the offer to the Russians, and that the “ball is now in Moscow’s court”.

“The president wanted this war to end yesterday ... So our hope is that the Russians will answer ‘yes’ as quickly as possible, so we can get to the second phase of this, which is real negotiations,” Mr Rubio told reporters, referring to President Trump, after the statement was issued.

Shortly after the deal was announced, Mr Trump said he would “absolutely” welcome Mr Zelensky back to the White House for another visit.

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In a joint statement between the two countries, Ukraine said it “expressed readiness to accept the US 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 statement added: “The United States will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.”

Mr Zelensky, who was in Saudi Arabia but did not participate in the talks, said the ceasefire was a “positive proposal” that covers the front line in the conflict, not just fighting by air and sea.

The talks came in the wake of Kyiv’s largest drone attack of the war, with at least three people killed and around 18 injured in strikes that included 343 drones launched against Russia.

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More than 90 were aimed at the capital Moscow and the surrounding region. Russia has repeatedly launched mass missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities across three years of fighting, launching 126 drones and a ballistic missile on Tuesday.

One of the proposals that Ukrainian officials brought to the talks – and has now been agreed with the US – was a truce in the air and sea that would halt such attacks; Ukrainian officials have made clear that the overnight assault was a signal to Vladimir Putin to take that seriously.

Ukrainian officials say the truce would cover the Black Sea, which would bring safer shipping, as well as long-range missile strikes that have hit civilians in Ukraine, in addition to the release of prisoners of war.

“The largest drone attack in history was carried out on Moscow and the Moscow region,” said Andriy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian national security council official responsible for countering disinformation. “This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air.”

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

Mr Waltz said negotiators “got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end”, including long-term security guarantees.

Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak earlier told reporters that the most important thing was “how to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine”.

In the wake of the White House spat, the United States stopped military assistance and paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv, and Sir Keir Starmer told Mr Trump on Monday that he hoped those moves could be reversed as a result of the talks.

Putin has not publicly offered any concessions and as the Jeddah talks were underway, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told an audience at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics that Russians should not get carried away by what Mr Trump is doing over Ukraine, even though his actions may sometimes look hopeful for Moscow. He called on the population to always “prepare for the worst”.

“Don’t rush to put on rose-tinted spectacles,” he said. “We always need to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. And we must always be ready to defend our interests.”

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In Europe, army chiefs from more than 30 countries met in Paris on Tuesday, for talks on creating an international force to deter future Russian aggression once a ceasefire is established. They include troop size, location and, crucially, military options in the event of a transgression.

The Paris meeting was the most significant culmination so far of French and British efforts to rally nations under a “coalition of the willing” to safeguard Ukraine by establishing a reassurance and deterrence force to dissuade Russia from invading again.

French president Emmanuel Macron said it would be held in “close coordination” with Nato. A French military official said the talks included nearly all 32 Nato countries – notably without the United States – as well as Commonwealth nations and Asian powers Japan and South Korea. Participants would be invited to spell out what their militaries might be able and willing to contribute, be that troops, weapons or other assistance.

France’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said ahead of the meeting that Ukraine’s own army remained “the main security guarantee” for the country, adding that France “will refuse any demilitarisation of the Ukrainian army”.

Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans said that “Europe is standing at a crossroads” in a stark message to his colleagues. “Putin has made very clear that Ukraine is not his final stop on his campaign to the imperial past,” Mr Brekelmans said.

“He will continue his aggressive, aggressive efforts to increase the influence and the territory of the Russian empire towards his dream to re-establish a Russkiy Mir, or a Russian world... It’s a dream for Putin and it’s a nightmare for the rest of Europe.”

“It’s time we let Putin wake up to the fact that his dreams do not match reality,” he added.

Elsewhere, Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk laid out some details around his plan for voluntary large-scale military training of Poland’s adult population, given Russia’s continuing aggression. He said the government plans to expand existing training programmes as soon as possible so that everyone who wants to take part can do so in 2026, and expand the target to be able to train 100,000 people in 2027.

Those taking part in the month-long training get a one-off salary of 6,000 Polish z?oty (?1,200) – with the scheme open to all adults aged between 18 and 60.

Further details of the draft law implementing these plans are expected “by the end of March,” he said.