Americas

Americas

Rubio and Waltz say onus is on Russia after Ukraine talks

11 March 2025 22:50 (UTC +04:00)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz said that after Kyiv agreed to a full, temporary ceasefire, the onus is now on Russia to take steps to end the war it launched against Ukraine, APA reports citing CNN.

“(Ukraine is) ready for peace, and now we’ll take to that to the Russians and get their response,” Waltz told reporters after the over eight-hour-long meeting with the Ukrainians in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

“We hope that they’ll say yes, that they’ll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court,” Rubio said of the Russians.

“If they say no, then we’ll, unfortunately, know what the impediment is to peace here,” he added.

Waltz said he would speak with his Russian counterpart “in the coming days.” Beyond that, the US officials did not provide specific details about how the offer would be given to the Russians or if special envoy Steve Witkoff would present it during his expected travel to Moscow later this week. However, they said they hoped to move forward as soon as possible.

Both Rubio and Waltz emphasized that Ukraine had demonstrated a commitment to peace — a notion that was publicly doubted by US President Donald Trump.

“The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear — that they share President Trump’s vision for peace,” Waltz said.

“They made concrete steps and concrete proposals, not only accepting our proposal for a full ceasefire,” Waltz said, “but we also got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end, what type of guarantees they’re going to have for their long-term security and prosperity, but also really looking at what it’s going to take to finally end this, the horrific fighting.”

“As a result of this positive step forward, the president has decided to lift the pause on aid and on our security assistance to Ukraine going forward, and that’s effective immediately,” the national security adviser added.