Ukraine's Western allies increased pressure on Russia on Wednesday to respond to a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire plan after Ukraine supported the initiative aimed at ending the three-year war.
In its first comments on the proposal, the Kremlin said it was waiting for details from Washington.
President Donald Trump's administration lifted a freeze on military aid to Ukraine after Kyiv accepted the ceasefire proposal, marking the latest shift in the ongoing conflict.
"The idea of a 30-day ceasefire is an important and correct step towards a just peace for Ukraine... Now it's up to (President Vladimir) Putin," Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on social media platform X.
Scholz echoed similar calls for a Russian response, following statements made by Washington and Kyiv.
"We'll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they'll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday after talks in Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine backed the truce proposal.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky, made Ukraine's position clear: "Russia needs to say, very clearly, they want peace or not, they want to end this war, which they started, or no," he told reporters in Jeddah.
Amidst this diplomatic pressure, Ukrainian officials came to Saudi Arabia eager to resolve the conflict, proposing a partial truce on air and sea attacks. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Moscow was open to a "high-level" phone call with the U.S. "We assume that Secretary of State Rubio and Advisor (Michael) Walz, through various channels, will inform us on the negotiations that took place," Peskov said.
Russian news agencies also reported that the heads of the CIA and Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency spoke by phone on Tuesday for the first time in years. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and SVR head Sergei Naryshkin agreed to maintain "regular contact" to promote international stability and decrease tensions between Moscow and Washington, according to Russia's TASS news agency.
Meanwhile, Rubio confirmed that the U.S. would resume military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, after a brief cut-off following a February 28 meeting between Trump and Zelensky.
In Washington, Trump expressed his willingness to meet with Zelensky again at the White House and said he might also speak to Putin this week. Asked about the prospects for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump responded, "Well, I hope it will be over the next few days, I'd like to see."
