Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday that he informed a number of European counterparts about the “milestone” talks with the United States where Kyiv said it was ready to support Washington’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
After more than eight hours of meetings between Ukrainian and US officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the United States agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Sybiha, who took part in the Jeddah talks, said that afterwards he talked to several European foreign ministers, including British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, “about the outcomes of the milestone meeting.”
Sybiha said that the Ukrainian team told the US officials that European partners must participate in any peace negotiations.
“We adhere to the position: no decisions on the long-term security of Europe without Europe,” Sybiha said in a social media post.
On Wednesday, Sybiha will be in Warsaw for talks with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement.
Poland, Ukraine’s neighbor and a NATO member, has been a steadfast supporters of Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago, even as the number of Poles backing continued military assistance to Kyiv drops.
The Tuesday US-Ukraine agreement was a sharp turnaround from an acrimonious White House meeting on February 28 between US President Donald Trump, who has long been a Ukraine aid sceptic, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy, who was in Saudi Arabia but did not participate in the talks, said the ceasefire was a “positive proposal,” that covers the frontline in the conflict, not just fighting by air and sea.
“Now, it is up to the United States to convince Russia to do the same,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “If Russia agrees, the ceasefire will take effect immediately.”
