US says Ukraine is “ready to move on” in terms of fire search

The Trump Administration believes that Ukraine’s leadership is “ready to move forward” on the US request for a process of ceasing fire with Russia, according to a senior US Department of State.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz should arrive in Saudi Arabia for talks on Tuesday with their Ukrainian counterparts.

President Donald Trump has put pressure on his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelenski to accept his demands for a quick cessation of the fire with Moscow – but without an immediate bet on a US security guarantee.

Ten days ago, the two were publicly confronted with the White House, with Trump claiming that Zelenski was not ready to end the fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

“The fact that they come here at higher levels is a good indication for us that they want to sit down and are ready to move forward,” said the State Department officer, talking on condition of anonymity to discuss conversations with Ukraine in Jedda.

While Zelenski is also due in the Gulf of Persian to meet the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he is not expected to play an official role in conversations with the Americans.

The Ukrainian team will be represented by the Head of Zelenski Andriai Jermak, the national security adviser, as well as the ministers of foreign and defense.

In his video late on Sunday, Zelenski said, “We hope for results – both for rapprochement and in continuing support.”

Zelenski was under intense pressure from the United States to make discounts before any peace negotiations, while he was pushing for firm security guarantees for Kiev, emphasizing that Putin violated previous deals to end the fire.

Any relevant pressure the United States is making to Moscow to make discounts is not publicly announced.

Shortly after the Row of the White House, Zelenski regretted the incident and tried to correct his relations with the United States, the largest military supplier in the country.

Later, Trump’s special envoy Steve Vikof said that Trump had received a letter from Zelenski, which included “apology” and “sense of gratitude”.

Vitcof said that in Saudi Arabia, the US team wants to discuss a “frame” for peace to try to end the war in Russia-Ukraine.

Main deal with minerals – derailed because of the beam – has also been reported to return to the agenda in Saudi Arabia.

Ukraine has offered to provide the United States access to its rare stocks of mineral land in exchange for security guarantees in the United States.

The White House clash has also led to the US that has stopped all military assistance to Ukraine and suspending intelligence sharing.

But when they asked him on Sunday if he would consider a pause of intelligence, Trump replied, “Well, we just have. I want to say that we really have and we want to do our best to make Ukraine be serious.” He did not provide more details.

On February 18, before the US and Ukraine in Washington, Rubio had talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia. It was a tracking of Trump’s controversial telephone conversation with Putin.