French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the "progress" made in peace talks in Saudi Arabia between Ukraine and the United States and said it was now up to Russia to ensure the proposed 30-day ceasefire is signed.
Ukrainian officials endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia at pivotal talks in Jeddah on Tuesday, opening the possibility to ending three years of war.
Macron posted on X that "the ball is now clearly in Russia's court". He hailed the "progress" made in the Jeddah talks but insisted that Kyiv needs "robust" security guarantees in any ceasefire.
"Today we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after around nine hours of talks.
"We'll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they'll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court.
"If they say no then we'll, unfortunately, know what the impediment is to peace here," Rubio said of Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
End the 'meat-grinder of people'
Mike Waltz, Trump's national security advisor, who said he would speak in the coming days with his Russian counterpart, credited the Ukrainians with agreeing on the need to "end the killing, to end the tragic meat-grinder of people and national treasure".
Rubio said the United States would immediately resume military assistance and intelligence sharing it had cut off to pressure its wartime partner.
Top Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak said that Ukraine had made clear that its desire is peace.
"Russia needs to say, very clearly, they want peace or not, they want to end this war, which they started, or no," Yermak told reporters.
From Ukraine, Zelensky thanked Trump for the "positive" ceasefire proposal and said the United States must now work to persuade Russia.
"The American side understands our arguments, perceives our proposals, and I want to thank President Trump for the constructive conversation between our teams," Zelensky said in his evening address.
In a joint statement, Ukraine and the United States said they would conclude "as soon as possible" a deal securing US access to Ukraine's mineral wealth, which Trump demanded as compensation for billions of dollars in US weapons under his predecessor Joe Biden.
European allies rally behind Ukraine after White House clash
European leaders welcomed the outcome of the talks in Jeddah.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the deal a "remarkable breakthrough" while Italy's Giorgia Meloni said now the ceasefire "decision is up to Russia".
In Poland, a top supporter of Ukraine and where historical memories of Russia run deep, Prime Minister Donald Tusk praised the "important step towards peace" by the United States and Ukraine.
Trump's abrupt shift on Ukraine following Biden's strong support has rattled European allies, with France and Germany increasingly speaking of developing common European defence if the United States no longer offers its security guarantees through NATO.
Macron, who has mulled European forces in Ukraine as part of any future deal, hosted a separate closed-door meeting in Paris on Tuesday.
European defence meetings
Representatives from 34 countries were present - most of them from Europe and NATO, but also from Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
There was no representative from the United States, which is the leading member of NATO.
According to the president's office, the military chiefs of staff agreed that the security guarantees "should not be separated from NATO and its capabilities".
Macron hosts European military chiefs to discuss Ukraine security guarantees
"This is the moment when Europe must throw its full weight behind Ukraine, and itself," Macron told the meeting, the president's office said.
"In view of the acceleration of peace negotiations," it was necessary to start planning to "define credible security guarantees" to make a lasting peace in Ukraine a reality".
Ahead of the meeting, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said: "We will reject any form of demilitarisation of Ukraine."
Defence ministers from Europe's five main military powers – France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland – are to meet in the French capital on Wednesday. EU and NATO representatives and the Ukrainian defence minister will also take part.
(with AFP)
