Ukraine agrees to accept 30-day ceasefire proposal, as U.S. resumes military assistance

Ukraine is prepared to accept a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire with Russia, recently having gone through a rough patch with Washington.

The U.S. has resumed military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine.

Now, it remains to be seen how the Kremlin will respond.

Our correspondent Bae Eun-ji covers this prospect and more.

Talks between senior officials from the U.S. and Ukraine that took place in Saudi Arabia appear to have been fruitful, as Kyiv agreed to a proposal for an initial 30-day ceasefire with Russia.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the U.S. agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, immediately after Kyiv said it was ready to accept the peace deal proposed by Washington.

The two sides also said they will conclude an agreement for developing Ukraine's critical mineral resources, as soon as possible.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who led the U.S. delegation to the talks said Washington would present the ceasefire offer to the Kremlin, noting that it's now up to Russia to end the fighting.

"Now hopefully we'll take this offer now to the Russians. And we hope that they'll say yes. That they'll say yes to peace. The ball's now in their court."

But,.. how Moscow might respond is far from certain.

U.S. President Donald Trump also said he hopes Russia agrees to the ceasefire proposal, hinting that he may talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin about it possibly this week.

He added that he is willing to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy back to the White House.

"Yeah, I'll talk to Vladimir Putin, yeah, I want to. Look, that's the other. It takes two to tango, as they say, right? So hopefully he'll also agree."

Zelenskyy, who was in Saudi Arabia but did not participate in the talks, said the ceasefire was a "positive proposal," but stressed that Washington must convince Moscow to agree to it as well.

"Ukraine accepts this proposal, we consider it positive. We are ready to take such a step, and the United States of America must convince Russia to do the same."

European leaders welcomed the 30-day ceasefire proposal,.. saying the EU is ready to play its full part in the upcoming peace negotiations