Ukraine has accepted the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, with the US agreeing to lift restrictions on military aid and intelligence sharing, according to a joint statement issued on Tuesday (11) after talks in Saudi Arabia.

At the end of the talks in Jeddah, a city on the Red Sea, the two sides also agreed to conclude an agreement on Ukrainian minerals "as soon as possible", according to the statement.

"Ukraine has expressed its readiness to accept the proposal of the United States for an immediate and provisional ceasefire of 30 days, which may be extended by mutual agreement of the parties and which is subject to simultaneous acceptance and implementation by the Russian Federation," the joint statement, quoted by the AFP.

According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it is now necessary for Russia to accept the agreement. "The ball is now in Russia's court," said Rubio. "The United States will let Russia know that Russian reciprocity is the key to peace," the statement added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the United States needs to "convince" Russia to accept Washington's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia.

"Ukraine welcomes this proposal, considers it positive and is ready to take this step. The United States of America must convince Russia to do so," Zelensky said in his evening speech. "The American side understands our arguments."

The agreement also presupposes that the United States immediately lifts the suspension of intelligence sharing and resumes security assistance to Ukraine," the joint statement adds.

US President Donald Trump ended aid to Ukraine after a disastrous meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the White House at the end of February.

US national security adviser Mike Waltz has expressed hope for an end to the war in Ukraine. We've gone from "if the war will end" to "how the war will end," Waltz told reporters, saying that President Donald Trump has "changed the entire global conversation."

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on European and NATO military leaders to draw up a plan "to define credible security guarantees" for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, the presidency said.

"In view of the acceleration of peace negotiations," Macron said it was necessary to start planning the "definition of credible security guarantees" for Ukraine, the French presidency said after a meeting in Paris of military chiefs from 30 European countries and NATO on Tuesday.

(Photo DR)