Ukraine agrees to a 30-day ceasefire

UKRAINE yesterday agreed to a 30-day ceasefire with Russia after a day of peace talks with the US.

- By Jonathan Walker Whitehall Editor

The announcement led the US to restore intelligence sharing and mili-tary aid to Kyiv immediately.

It had suspended them after dis-cussions initially broke down.

The US-Ukraine talks lasted nine hours in Saudi Arabia in the bid to end the three-year war with Russia.

Reacting to the ceasefire progress, US president Donald Trump said: "Now we have to go to Russia and, hopefully, President Putin will agree to that also. And we can get this show on the road."

He later told reporters at the White House he expects to talk to Vladimir Putin this week.

He stressed: “Yes, I'll talk to him. It takes two to tango. Hopefully he will also agree and I really think that will be 70% of the way.” There was no initial response from Moscow.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the ceasefire plan as “positive” as he thanked Mr Trump for “the constructiveness of our teams’ conversation” in Jeddah. Mr Zelensky confirmed Ukraine was ready to accept a ceasefire in the sky, at sea and on the front line going beyond his proposal for a partial truce in the air and sea.

He insisted: “Ukraine is ready for peace.” He declared the US “must convince Russia” to agree. He added: “Russia must show its willingness to stop the war or continue the war. It is time for the full truth. I thank every-one who is helping Ukraine.”