Ukraine ready for 30-day ceasefire with Russia at US
proposal: ‘Now is the time to test Russia’s intentions’
Following the talks between the US and Ukraine mediated by
Saudi Arabia, Ukraine has said that it is ready to immediately accept a 30-day
ceasefire with Russia.
It should be remembered that the proposal for a temporary
ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was presented by the US, which Ukraine has
agreed to accept.
After this development, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
who is in Saudi Arabia, said that now ‘the ball is in their (Russia’s) court.’
(That is, now it is Russia’s time to decide.)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it is now up
to the US to convince Russia of this ‘positive’ proposal for a ceasefire.
It should be remembered that last month, there was an unusual
clash between President Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in the Oval
Office of the US President, after which the US announced the immediate
suspension of intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine.
The two countries held their first formal meeting since the
Oval Office incident in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday. In a joint statement
issued after the meeting, the United States also said it would immediately
resume intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine, which had been
suspended a few days ago.
The joint statement added that “Ukraine and the United States
will immediately nominate their respective negotiating teams and agreed to
immediately begin talks to establish a lasting peace.”
Later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a press
conference in Jeddah that he hoped Russia would accept the proposal for an
immediate ceasefire.
He said that “Ukraine is ready to stop the attacks and start
talks,” but if Russia rejects this (ceasefire) offer, “we will unfortunately
find out who is standing in the way of peace.”
“Today we made an offer aimed at an immediate ceasefire and
the start of talks, and Ukraine has accepted this offer,” he said.
He added that “we will now take this offer to the Russians
and we hope that they will respond positively to it for peace. The ball is now
in their court.”
Russia has not yet responded to the issue. Earlier, the Kremlin
had said that it would issue a statement after Washington was briefed on the
results of the talks in Saudi Arabia.
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February
2022, and after nearly three years of war, Russia now controls about 20 percent
of Ukraine’s territory.
‘Now the pressure will be on Russia’
In recent weeks, we have heard a lot about what President
Donald Trump expects from Ukraine and what kind of blunt tactics the United
States has used to meet those expectations and respond appropriately to
Ukraine.
But now it seems that the time has come to examine Russia’s
intentions.
The way President Trump is handling his dealings with
Vladimir Putin remains uncertain. There is no clear indication that he will
apply the same pressure on President Putin to establish a balance as President
Trump has applied to Volodymyr Zelensky.
The joint statement issued by the United States and Ukraine
after talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday does not mean that President Trump has
suddenly changed his policy on President Zelensky. Trump and Zelensky have a
complicated relationship that is a reflection of years of mutual distrust.
But the clouds of anger and mistrust that hung over the
leaders in the Oval Office 11 days ago may now begin to lift with the start of
the talks.
Russia may now be feeling the pressure after the immediate
restoration of US intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine.
But things are still in their early stages, and the details
will be worked out in the upcoming talks.
The joint statement talks about “key details” regarding a
permanent end to the war and the kind of guarantees that Ukraine can expect for
its “long-term security and prosperity.”
But the words in the last paragraph of the joint statement
seem to confirm Washington’s view that security and prosperity can only be
achieved through the pending mineral agreement with Ukraine, not through the
concrete guarantees that Ukraine is demanding from the United States.
In this regard, the joint statement says that Zelensky and
Trump have agreed to conclude an agreement “as soon as possible.” But how can a
purely commercial arrangement (a mineral agreement) deter Russian actions in
the future? That is something that will have to wait.
The joint statement also says that the Ukrainian delegation
“reaffirmed that European partners will be involved in this peace process,” but
it does not shed any light on how Washington sees the possible parameters of
European involvement in this peace process.
This meeting between President Zelensky and the US Secretary
of State in Saudi Arabia feels like a timely act of “resettling relations”
after the recent turmoil. But that doesn’t mean the United States and Ukraine
are in complete agreement on how to move forward.
If President Zelensky had any doubts in the past, he now
knows full well that he is dealing with an American president for whom past
loyalties and traditional diplomatic etiquette mean little.
Zelensky will do whatever it takes to keep the ball in
Russia’s court. But he also knows that the ball could still be in his court
soon.
