By Janet Ekstract, ISTANBUL -It was announced in a joint statement on March 11 that an agreement was reached between the U.S. and Ukrainian President Zelensky after talks with US and Saudi officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Under the agreement proposed by the U.S., Ukraine agrees to a 30-day ceasefire as well as a deal with the U.S. on its rare earth minerals. For its part, the U.S. announced it will resume military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned that now “the ball is in Russia’s court” to accept the agreement. The agreement was reached after more than eight hours of talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, the next step is for the U.S. to present the proposal to Russia. According to media reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to a peace deal but not a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, analysts and experts on the region are skeptical about whether Putin would actually consider such an agreement, especially in light of his past habit of breaking agreements he signed. Being so closely aligned with China and North Korea doesn’t bode well for such an agreement coming to fruition, experts have pointed out. It could prove lucrative for Trump to dangle some incentives for Putin to bring him to the negotiating table. As Rubio said: “Every day that goes by, this war continues, people die, people are bombed, people are hurt on both sides of this conflict.” On January 20, Putin told his Security Council that there “should not be a short truce, not some kind of respite for regrouping forces and rearmament with the aim of subsequently continuing the conflict, but a long-term peace.” Despite Putin’s words, analysts point to his contradictory behavior and Putin has nixed any hope of Ukraine recovering the territory Russia has taken. According to reports, Putin expects Ukraine to fully withdraw from four Ukrainian regions Russia claimsand partly controls.
