Ukraine to offer limited ceasefire during talks with US

A Ukrainian delegation scheduled to meet with the top U.S. diplomat in Saudi Arabia to end the three-year war with Russia will propose a cease-fire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes, as well as the release of prisoners, two senior Ukrainian officials said Monday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about Tuesday’s meeting, also told The Associated Press that the Ukrainian delegation was prepared during the talks to sign an agreement with the United States on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals — a deal that U.S. President Donald Trump has sought.

The officials discussed the confidence-building measures, without elaborating, before the Ukrainian negotiating team meets with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jeddah.

Kyiv is trying to repair the damage done when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington on February 28 descended into an Oval Office spat with Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

At stake is the military aid and intelligence provided by the United States, which had helped Ukraine in the war but is now being withheld as Washington pushes for a peace deal.

Marco Rubio and President Zelensky landed within hours of each other in Saudi Arabia on Monday, but they were not scheduled to meet. Zelensky was scheduled to meet the kingdom’s powerful crown prince on Monday evening. Rubio was also scheduled to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Speaking to reporters aboard his plane, Rubio said he and national security adviser Mike Waltz would brief Saudi Arabia on Ukraine’s responses.

If Ukraine and the United States reach a deal acceptable to Trump, it could accelerate his administration’s push toward peace talks.

“What we want to know is whether they’re interested in some kind of peace conversation and the broad outlines of the kinds of things that they might consider, recognizing that this was a costly and bloody war for the Ukrainians. They suffered a lot and their people suffered a lot,” Rubio said. “And it’s hard after a situation like this to talk about concessions, but it’s the only way to end this situation and avoid further suffering.”

He added: “I’m not going to put conditions on what they have to do. I think we want to listen to see how far they’re willing to go, and then compare that to what the Russians want and see how far apart we really are.”

President Zelensky said his team would meet with Rubio, including his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Rubio will lead the U.S. team.

The rest of Europe remains skeptical of the talks, having been sidelined by Washington.

The European Union agreed last week to bolster the continent’s defenses and provide hundreds of billions of euros in security aid in response to the Trump administration’s shift in stance on Ukraine.

White House special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that the pause in U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine had not limited defense intelligence sharing.

“We have never stopped intelligence sharing for … anything defensive that the Ukrainians need,” Witkoff said.

A pause in sharing U.S. intelligence that could be used for offensive purposes by Ukrainian forces remains in effect, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official suggested that progress could be made toward resuming intelligence sharing with Ukraine during the Saudi talks.

Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews