US says Ukraine ready for a ceasefire, up to Russia now
Washington: The US on Tuesday said that Ukraine has agreed to its proposal for an immediate and interim ceasefire for 30 days and now it’s up to Russia to reciprocate.
The US has also lifted the pause on sharing intelligence and providing military assistance to Ukraine.
“Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking, and now it will be up to them to say yes or no,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after a meeting with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, referring to Russia.
“I hope they’re going to say yes, and if they do, then I think we’ve made great progress. If they say no, then we will, unfortunately, know what the impediment is to peace here,” he said further, adding: “The President has been abundantly clear: he wants the shooting to stop. He wants the warfare to stop. He wants the dying and the suffering to stop, and he believes, and rightfully so, that the only way to end this war is to negotiate an end to it and we think that it’s always easier to negotiate an end to the war when people aren’t shooting at each other. That’s how the President believes, that’s what we hope to achieve, the Ukrainians today have expressed their willingness and readiness to do so immediately. We hope the Russians’ answer to that will also be yes.”
A joint statement issued by the US and Ukraine said: “Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the US proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation. The US will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace.”
It added: “The US will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.”