Ukraine agrees to potential ceasefire terms; intelligence sharing set to resume
Ukraine has signaled it is open to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Russia has yet to respond to the agreement.
US lifts military aid suspension on Ukraine
Dig deeper:
Also on Tuesday, the Trump administration announced it will immediately lift its suspension of military aid to Ukraine. The decision marked a sharp shift from only a week ago when it imposed the measures to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces.
The suspension of U.S. assistance came days after Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump argued about the war in a tense White House meeting.
Waiting on Russia
What we know:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the U.S. delegation to the talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, said Washington would present the ceasefire offer to the Kremlin.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with the media following meetings with a Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 11, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
What they're saying:
"We’re going to tell them this is what’s on the table. Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking. And now it’ll be up to them to say yes or no," Rubio told reporters. "If they say no, then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here."
What we don't know:
The Kremlin had no immediate comment on the U.S. and Ukrainian statements. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said only that negotiations with U.S. officials could take place this week.
Russia’s conditions for peace
Some politicians in Moscow and military bloggers spoke out against a prospective ceasefire agreement, arguing that it would damage Moscow’s interest at a time when their military has the upper hand.
What they're saying:
"A ceasefire isn’t what we need," wrote hard-line ideologue Alexander Dugin.
Viktor Sobolev, a retired general who is a member of the Russian parliament’s lower house, warned that a 30-day truce would allow Ukraine to beef up arms supplies and regroup its troops before resuming hostilities.
Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political commentator, suggested that Moscow could demand a halt on Western arms supplies to Ukraine as part of a ceasefire. "An embargo on arms supplies to Ukraine could be a condition for a truce," he wrote.
The other side:
Oleksandr, a Ukrainian soldier who could give only his first name because of security restrictions, warned that Ukraine cannot let down its guard down.
What they're saying:
"If there is a ceasefire, it would only give Russia time to increase its firepower, manpower, missiles and other arms. Then they would attack Ukraine again," he said.
Big picture view:
The Kremlin has not publicly offered any concessions. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared that Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce.
Russia has said it’s ready to cease hostilities on condition that Ukraine drops its bid to join NATO and recognizes regions that Moscow occupies as Russian.
Latest on the war
Russia shoots down 337 Ukrainian drones
Senior officials from Ukraine and the United States opened talks Tuesday on how to end Moscow’s three-year war against Kyiv, hours after Russian air defenses shot down 343 Ukrainian drones in the biggest such attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Dimitris Tsarouhas, a Virginia Tech foreign relations expert and visiting professor of political science joined LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow to discuss.
Dig deeper:
Russian forces have held the battlefield momentum for more than a year, though at a high cost in infantry and armor, and are pushing at selected points along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region, against Ukraine's understrength and weary army.
Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine's territory.
Ukraine has invested heavily in developing its arms industry, especially high-tech drones that have reached deep into Russia.
Most of the Ukrainian drones fired overnight — 126 of them — were shot down over the Kursk region across the border from Ukraine, parts of which Kyiv’s forces control, and 91 were shot down over the Moscow region, according to a statement by Russia's Defense Ministry.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said over 70 drones targeted the Russian capital and were shot down as they were flying toward it — the biggest single attack on Moscow so far in the war.
The governor of the Moscow region surrounding the capital, Andrei Vorobyov, said the attack damaged several residential buildings and a number of cars.
Flights were temporarily restricted in and out of six airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky just outside Moscow, and airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
The Source: Information for this article was gathered from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Los Angeles.