West says next step 'up to Putin' on Ukraine truce

WASHINGTON

This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on March 11, 2025, shows US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (3rd L), Ukrainian Head of Presidential Office Andriy Yermak (2nd R), Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Sybiha (R) and Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov (3rd R) as they attend the Ukrainian and US delegations meeting in Jeddah, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kiev's Western allies upped the pressure on Russia on Wednesday to respond to a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire plan, after Ukraine backed the proposal aimed at ending the three-year war.

In its first comments on the proposition, the Kremlin said it was waiting for details from Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration lifted a freeze on military aid to Ukraine after Kiev accepted the plan, the latest in a rapid-fire series of developments on the conflict.

"The idea of a 30-day ceasefire is an important and correct step towards a just peace for Ukraine... Now it's up to [President Vladimir] Putin," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on social media platform X.

Scholz echoed similar demands for a Russian reply that have already been made by Washington and Kiev.

"We'll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they'll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court," American Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 11 after talks in Saudi Arabia where Ukraine backed the U.S. truce proposal.

Andriy Yermak, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in Jeddah that Ukraine had made clear that its desire was peace.

"Russia needs to say, very clearly, they want peace or not, they want to end this war, which they started, or no," Yermak told reporters.

With Trump stunning allies by applying intense pressure on Kiev and reaching out to Moscow, Ukrainian officials came to talks in Saudi Arabia eager to make up and had proposed a partial truce on air and sea attacks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that Moscow did not rule out a "high-level" phone call with the United States about Ukraine.

"We assume that Secretary of State Rubio and Advisor [Michael] Walz through various channels in the coming days will inform us on the negotiations that took place and the understandings reached," Peskov said.

Earlier, Russian news agencies reported that the heads of CIA and Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency spoke by phone on March 11, in the first such contact in several years.

CIA's John Ratcliffe and SVR's Sergei Naryshkin agreed on "regular contact" between their agencies "in order to contribute to the international stability and security, as well as a decrease in confrontation in relations between Moscow and Washington," Russia's state TASS news agency reported.

Rubio said the United States would immediately resume military assistance and intelligence sharing it had cut off to pressure its wartime partner following a disastrous Feb. 28 meeting between Trump and Zelensky.

In Washington, Trump said he was ready to welcome Zelensky back to the White House and may speak to Putin this week.

Asked by a reporter about the prospects of a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump answered: "Well, I hope it will be over the next few days, I'd like to see."

"I know we have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow and some great conversations hopefully will ensue."

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has mulled European forces in Ukraine as part of any deal, on March 11 hailed the "progress" made in the Jeddah talks but insisted that Kiev needs "robust" security guarantees in any ceasefire.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the deal a "remarkable breakthrough" while Italy's Giorgia Meloni said now the ceasefire "decision is up to Russia."