Donald Trump has issued Vladimir Putin a ceasefire ultimatum after Russia continued to launch destructive strikes against Ukraine last night.
Trump is expected to call Putin this week after saying “it takes two to tango” as Ukraine agreed to lay down its arms in the first ceasefire since the invasion over three years ago.
After over eight hours of talks yesterday in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the “ball is now in Russia’s court,” and that he hoped “Russia will answer yes as quickly as possible”.
He added: “If they say no, then we’ll know unfortunately what is the impediment to peace here”.
After over eight hours of talks yesterday in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the “ball is now in Russia’s court”
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On Tuesday, ahead of the talks, Ukraine launched its largest ever drone attack on Moscow, while Russia struck several regions in Ukraine with “massive shelling”.
During negotiations in Riyadh, Ukraine expressed its preparedness for peace after the US agreed to restart military aid and intelligence sharing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not present at the talks, said the agreement showed that Kyiv was ”ready for peace”.
He said: “Russia must show its readiness to end the war or continue the war. It is time for the full truth”.
The Ukrainian leader made sure to thank the US, after previously landing in hot water with Trump for not being “grateful” enough to the superpower.
“I want to thank President Trump for the constructiveness of our teams’ conversation,” he said, adding that the US must work to “convince” Putin to sign the deal.
The US ceasefire proposal would not only stop “missile, drone and bomb attacks” and the Black Sea conflict, but also end the fighting “along the entire frontline”.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Ukrainian MP for Odesa Oleksiy Goncharenko said: “We need peace, it’s a real breakthrough. The most important thing is that we have a real result in military aid and intelligence being resumed.”
Trump announced he had invited Zelensky back to the White House
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Goncharenko added that he had “no confidence” Putin would sign a deal.
He said: “Now we will see the true face of Putin, I am sure he doesn’t want peace. If he starts to play games with Trump, it will be time for Trump to put pressure on him. He only understands force.”
Commenting on the ceasefire deal, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it an “important moment for peace in Ukraine”.
“We now all need to redouble our efforts to get to a lasting and secure peace as soon as possible,” he said, “As both American and Ukrainian delegations have said, the ball is now in the Russian court. Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the fighting, too.”
Trump also announced he had invited Zelensky back to the White House, and said “hopefully Russia will agree” to the deal.
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