The UK was “intimately involved” in helping Ukraine and the US reach an agreement over a proposed ceasefire deal with Russia, according to UK government sources.Ukrainian President Zelensky has said he is ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire but that it is up to the US to convince Russia to agree, after talks in Saudi Arabia.The BBC has been told that over the past week there has been a concerted European effort, led by Sir Keir Starmer, to get the US and Ukraine back in good favour with one another.Sir Keir praised the “remarkable breakthrough” and called it an “important moment for peace in Ukraine”.Russia has yet to respond to the ceasefire proposal and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the “ball is now in their court”. Following the announcement the Trump administration announced it would reinstate military aid to Ukraine and restart intelligence-sharing with Kyiv – after abruptly halting this after Donald Trump and Zelensky’s row in the Oval Office.The UK sources say that last week the prime minister’s National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, worked with his US counterpart Mike Waltz, and German and French officials, to fashion a plan for a ceasefire and the steps that might follow.Over the weekend Powell travelled to Kyiv to meet Zelensky and help draft a written proposal which included a temporary pause in fighting, then confidence-building measures such as an exchange of prisoners-of-war, the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia and the release of civilians.That proposal was agreed by the Ukrainians and the Americans, setting the stage for what happened in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.Following the talks between White House and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, Sir Keir congratulated the two men on the agreement, adding “we now all need to redouble our efforts” to secure a …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnThe UK was “intimately involved” in helping Ukraine and the US reach an agreement over a proposed ceasefire deal with Russia, according to UK government sources.Ukrainian President Zelensky has said he is ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire but that it is up to the US to convince Russia to agree, after talks in Saudi Arabia.The BBC has been told that over the past week there has been a concerted European effort, led by Sir Keir Starmer, to get the US and Ukraine back in good favour with one another.Sir Keir praised the “remarkable breakthrough” and called it an “important moment for peace in Ukraine”.Russia has yet to respond to the ceasefire proposal and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the “ball is now in their court”. Following the announcement the Trump administration announced it would reinstate military aid to Ukraine and restart intelligence-sharing with Kyiv – after abruptly halting this after Donald Trump and Zelensky’s row in the Oval Office.The UK sources say that last week the prime minister’s National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, worked with his US counterpart Mike Waltz, and German and French officials, to fashion a plan for a ceasefire and the steps that might follow.Over the weekend Powell travelled to Kyiv to meet Zelensky and help draft a written proposal which included a temporary pause in fighting, then confidence-building measures such as an exchange of prisoners-of-war, the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia and the release of civilians.That proposal was agreed by the Ukrainians and the Americans, setting the stage for what happened in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.Following the talks between White House and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, Sir Keir congratulated the two men on the agreement, adding “we now all need to redouble our efforts” to secure a …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
