Ukraine will propose an air and sea truce in the war with Russia during talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, 11 March. This was reported by AFP and the Financial Times.
“We have a proposal for an air and sea ceasefire. These types of ceasefires are easy to implement and monitor, so we can start with them,” the Ukrainian official said on condition of anonymity, The Guardian quoted him as saying.
According to Financial Times sources, Ukraine will also propose a partial ceasefire for long-range drone and missile attacks, as well as for naval operations in the Black Sea.
The context of the Jeddah talks
The talks in Jeddah are seen as Kyiv’s attempt to convince Washington to resume military assistance and intelligence sharing after they were suspended amid a tense meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on 28 February.
“The purpose of any negotiations between the Ukrainian and American authorities in Saudi Arabia will be, in particular, an agreement on the resumption of US assistance,” Fedir Venislavsky, a Zelenskyy party MP and member of the Verkhovna Rada’s National Security Committee, said late last week.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be in Jeddah from Monday to Wednesday for talks to “advance the president’s goal of ending the war between Russia and Ukraine,” his spokesman said.
The position of Washington and Kyiv
On Sunday, Donald Trump did not mention the Jeddah talks on Fox News, but said he was confident of signing a “valuable” mineral deal with Kyiv in the near future. At the same time, he rejected accusations of being soft on Moscow, stressing that he had been “tougher than anyone” on Russia.
In his turn, Volodymyr Zelenskyy told EU leaders in Brussels that he was seeking to conclude a framework agreement with the US that would form the basis for further agreements on mineral resources and security guarantees.
Zelenskyy will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, followed by talks on Tuesday. Meanwhile, European countries are considering creating a “coalition of goodwill” led by the UK and France to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire
