This is the situation for Wednesday, March 12th.
Cerez-fire meeting
High-ranking US and Ukrainian officials met for nine-hour consultations in the port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Kiev then said it agreed to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire and take steps to restore long-term peace with Moscow. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after consultations that “Ball is currently in the Russian courts.” Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelenkie welcomed the ceasefire as a “positive” deal and said the US must now persuade Russia to accept the proposal. After the high-level meeting, Washington quickly announced that it would lift the suspension of all military aid imposed on Ukraine and would soon be reviving a resume sharing of intelligence news with Kyiv. Pablo Palisa, deputy director of the Ukrainian presidential office, confirmed the resumption of US military aid. In response to the outcome of the US Ukraine talks in Jeddah, Trump said he hopes Russia will agree to a ceasefire agreement and added that US authorities will meet their Russian counterparts later this week. Last month, Trump said he would invite Zelenkey to the White House despite public clashes in his oval office. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hopes the US will discuss Moscow with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia about the proposed ceasefire. Reuters news agency reported that Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkov, is scheduled to visit Moscow this week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Fineting
Russia said its forces had reclaimed 12 settlements in the territory of the Kursk region and more than 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) of territory from Ukrainian forces that entered Russia in August 2024 for a surprising military invasion. The death toll from the barrage of 337 drones in Russia’s Ukraine on Tuesday rose to three, causing a total of 18 people to be injured. The death toll from Ukrainian strikes at Kursk shopping centres has also increased from three to five, said Alexander Kinstein, the local governor. The Russian Ministry of Defense said its forces captured Dutch village in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. Donetsk Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said six people were killed, including two children, and seven others were injured in the Russian attack. In a Facebook post, Ukrainian seaport authorities said four people were killed and the ship was damaged in a Russian missile attack on a grain ship in Odesa’s Black Sea Port. Ukrainian air defense forces will be mobilized to repel an overnight Russian air force attack on Kiev, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Politics and diplomacy
Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Feridun Sinirlioglu, visiting secretary general of the European Security Cooperation Agency (OSCE), will be brought to the Moscow site where Ukrainian drones were shot down during a massive raid on Tuesday. Zakharova also said that the drone attack on Ukraine’s Moscow showed Kiev was losing on the battlefield, leading him to directly attack civilian regions. The chief of Russian General Valery Valery Zerasimov visited Kursk’s troops and awarded the soldiers a medal for successfully driving away Ukrainian forces from the territory, the Ministry of Defense said.