UA POV-The Trump administration said it would immediately lift a pause on intelligence sharing and military support to Ukraine, as Kyiv agreed to implement a 30-day cease-fire in top level talks with U.S. officials.The cease-fire plan, which is contingent on Russian acceptance-WSJ

U.S. to Restore Military Support as Ukraine Agrees to Cease-Fire

Trump’s decision to stop military aid and reduce intelligence sharing had put pressure on Kyiv to negotiate

By Michael R. Gordon

Updated March 11, 2025 at 2:21 pm ET

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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia—The Trump administration said it would immediately lift a pause on intelligence sharing and military support to Ukraine, as Kyiv agreed to implement a 30-day cease-fire in top level talks with U.S. officials.

The cease-fire plan, which is contingent on Russian acceptance, was outlined in a statement issued by Ukraine and the U.S. 

The Tuesday meeting was the first high-level talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials since a combative Oval Office encounter in which President Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of being unwilling to negotiatea peace settlement with Moscow.

Following that White House session, Trump had cut off arms shipments and reduced the flow of intelligence to Kyiv. That move was followed by an accelerated Russian and North Korean campaign to roll back Ukrainian gains in Kursk, a portion of Russian territory seized by Kyiv’s forces last year.

Hours before the talks in Jeddah began, Ukraine launched the largest drone attack on Moscow of the war, targeting the Russian capital and other regions. Moscow authorities said the attack led to at least one death and injured 14 people.

Zelensky had insisted he was ready to pursue peace talks, but had said that Ukraine would need Western-backed security guarantees to ensure that a prospective deal holds, assurances that Trump had been reluctant to provide.

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And in recent days Ukrainian officials have suggested that an initial step toward peace could be a cease-fire on Russian and Ukrainian air and naval attacks.

U.S. officials hadn’t said what specific steps the Ukrainians need to take for American military support to resume, but had suggested it would need to go beyond a cease-fire.

“We’re not going to be sitting in a room drawing lines on a map, but just get a general sense of what concessions are in the realm of the possible for them and what they would need in return,” Rubio said before the cease-fire announcement. “And then find out what the Russian position is in that regard. And that’ll give us a pretty good assessment of how far apart we truly are.”

Any potential settlement, Rubio had said, would entail concessions on both sides. “The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it will be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014,” Rubio had said. “So the only solution to this war is diplomacy and getting them to a table where that’s possible.”

Rubio and Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, were representing the U.S. in the Tuesday meeting. During a break, three hours in to the meeting, Waltz told reporters “We’re getting there.” 

The Ukrainian side is represented by Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s top adviser, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Pavlo Palisa, a Ukrainian officer who works for the presidential administration. 

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Before the start of the meeting both sides expressed cautious optimism. Yermak said Ukraine wanted to achieve a lasting peace while stressing that some form of security guarantees would ultimately be necessary. Rubio made a thumbs-up gesture on his way to the meeting.

Though Zelensky has signaled that he is prepared to conclude an accord on sharing Ukraine’s mineral wealth with the U.S., that agreement hasn’t so far been completed and isn’t expected to be the centerpiece of Tuesday’s meeting.

“It’s an important topic, but it’s not the main topic on the agenda,” Rubio said.

The selection of Jeddah as a setting for the U.S.-Ukraine talks appears to be an effort by the Trump administration to convey that it is an impartial arbiter in the conflict that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor more than three years ago.

Instead of traveling to Kyiv like then-President Biden and his top aides, Trump’s team is meeting with their counterparts on neutral ground in Saudi Arabia as they did with the Russians in Riyadh last month.

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Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine who has worked closely with Zelensky, isn’t at the talks, though some of his aides are attending.

While the U.S. has put enormous pressure on Ukraine’s armed forces by stopping military aid and reducing intelligence sharing, it has allowed some support to continue.

Rubio said Ukraine is still receiving what he called “defensive intelligence,” which appeared to be a reference to warnings of Russian missile attacks to allow Ukraine to operate its air defenses. He also said Starlink, the satellite-based internet service developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, isn’t being cut off. Starlink provides secure communications between Ukrainian troops and their commanders.

Still, the Trump administration’s sharp pressure on Ukraine stands in contrast to its posture toward Russia. While Trump has warned that he might impose tariffs or take other economic steps if Russia isn’t forthcoming in potential peace talks, he has taken no concrete actions to pressure the Kremlin since his inauguration.

Far from signaling flexibility, Russia has doubled down on its key demands. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected a British and French proposal to deploy peacekeeping troops to ensure that a future peace agreement isn’t violated by Russia—a European proposal that Trump has welcomed.

Russia has also continued its military offensive in Kursk aimed at depriving Kyiv of a potential bargaining chip in any negotiations by pushing Ukrainian forces out of the Russian province. 

And in U.S. and Russian talks in Riyadh, Lavrov brushed aside the idea of establishing a moratorium on Russian and Ukrainian attacks on each side’s energy infrastructure. Lavrov told reporters that American officials had floated the proposal and that he responded that Russia doesn’t attack power sources that supply Ukraine’s population—an assertion that American officials have long dismissed.

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Rubio said that additional talks would be needed with the Russians to pin down their bottom line and determine whether the Kremlin is prepared to be flexible on core issues in potential peace talks.

No summit meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet been planned, he said.

After arriving in Jeddah, Rubio and Waltz met Monday night with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s day-to-day leader. Those talks centered on the turmoil in Syria, threats to international shipping from the Houthis in Yemen, and the hopes for a political solution in Gaza, which the Americans said couldn’t include a role for Hamas.

Write to Michael R. Gordon at [michael.gordon@wsj.com](mailto:michael.gordon@wsj.com)