The media and Democrats certainly weren’t expecting the news that Ukraine has now essentially agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. Which now puts the ball in Putin’s court.

Remember, everyone thought this deal, the mineral deal and any thought of a ceasefire let alone peace between Ukraine and Russia was dead after that White House press conference dustup. I had to wonder yesterday if things were changing when we found out that Zelensky had penned an apology to President Trump. 

“Zelensky sent a letter to the president. He apologized for that whole incident that happened in the Oval Office,” Witkoff, 67, told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Monday.

“I think that it was an important step, and there’s been a lot of discussion between our teams and the Ukrainians and the Europeans who are relevant to this discussion as well.”

Evidently there was much more to the negotiations than writing a letter of apology. Ukraine has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. 

The Trump administration lifted its suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine, and Kyiv signaled that it was open to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, pending Moscow’s agreement, American and Ukrainian officials said Tuesday following talks in Saudi Arabia.

The administration’s decision marked a sharp shift from only a week ago, when it imposed the measures to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces. The suspension of U.S. assistance came days after Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump argued about the war in a tense White House meeting.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the U.S. delegation to the talks in Jeddah, said Washington would present the ceasefire offer to the Kremlin, which has thus far opposed anything short of a permanent end to the conflict without accepting any concessions.

National Security Director Michael Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to the press about this new agreement. 

As Waltz stated, this is a move from wondering IF the war, a three year meatgrinder thus far, will end to a much larger possibility of HOW it will end. 

There are other details pertaining to this latest move from Ukraine. 

The statement also said the two countries agreed to conclude as soon as possible a “comprehensive agreement for developing Ukraine’s critical mineral resources to expand Ukraine’s economy and guarantee Ukraine’s long-term prosperity and security.”

And the leadership in the European Union is on board with this agreement. 

As they said, ball is now in Putin’s court. And immediately this blustery statement was issued. 

There was no immediate sign of reciprocity from the Kremlin, with Russian State Duma Deputy Vikto Sobolev first off the mark to reject the proposal.

“The US will rearm Ukraine in 30 days of cease-fire and start the war anew – Russia will not go for it,” he said. “I think that this is completely unacceptable. Some kind of temporary cease-fire. A temporary truce … is unacceptable.”

Of course, that statement was issued just as Russia had launched a ballistic missile at Ukraine and downed over 300 of that country’s drones on that same day. So is Putin going to come to the table and negotiate? Or is this Russia blowing a smoke screen while Putin figures out how to retaliate further without losing face? 

Zelensky is now on record stating that he wants this ceasefire agreement to happen. 

I received a report from our delegation on their meeting with the American team in Saudi Arabia. The discussion lasted most of the day and was good and constructive—our teams were able to discuss many important details.

Our position remains absolutely clear: Ukraine has been… pic.twitter.com/7EZXTVA52C

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 11, 2025

Therefore, it is clear. The next steps are Putin’s. 

Feature Photo Credit: Putin, flag, Russia via Pixabay, cropped and modified