On March 11, Ukrainian and American delegations will hold talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on ending the war. The Financial Times reports that Ukrainian representatives intend to propose a partial ceasefire with Russia. The proposal is to include a ban on drone strikes and long-range missiles, as well as a halt to hostilities in the Black Sea.
On March 10, Reuters, citing two American officials, wrote that the U.S. delegation in Saudi Arabia intends to check whether Ukraine is willing to make territorial concessions to Russia to end the war.
“You can’t say ‘I want peace’ and ‘I refuse to compromise,'” one American official said before the talks.
“We want to see if Ukrainians are interested not so much in peace as such, but in a realistic peace. If they are only interested in returning to the borders of 2014 or 2022, that says something,” added another.
One of Reuters’ sources said the U.S. delegation also wants to assess whether Ukraine is serious about improving relations with Washington after the controversial meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Feb. 28.
It remains unclear whether Russia would be at all open to a partial ceasefire, especially when its forces appear poised to make serious progress in Kursk.
“The situation (for Ukraine in Kursk) is very bad,” said Pasi Paroinen, a military analyst for Finland-based Black Bird Group, in an interview with Reuters. “Now there is not much left until Ukrainian forces will either be encircled or forced to withdraw. And withdrawal would mean running a dangerous gauntlet, where the forces would be constantly threatened by Russian drones and artillery,” he said.
American pressure on Ukraine
The U.S. delegation to the talks in Saudi Arabia will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff. The Ukrainian delegation will be led by the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak. It will also include Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Pavlo Palisa.
On March 9, Donald Trump said he expected “a lot of progress” in the negotiations. Zelensky, in turn, expressed hope that the talks would yield results.
In recent days, the Trump administration has halted arms deliveries and intelligence exchanges with Ukraine. According to press reports, it wants to put pressure on Kyiv to start peace negotiations. Shortly after, Moscow announced that its troops had managed to retake several towns in the Kursk region. There are also fears that a large contingent of Ukrainian soldiers, numbering in the thousands, faces encirclement in Kursk
On March 9, NBC News reported that the United States would be willing to resume military aid and intelligence sharing if Zelensky agreed to territorial concessions to Russia, took steps to hold presidential elections in Ukraine and possibly resigned as president.
