Ukraine Hopes for Peace, but Skepticism Runs Deep

After hours of exhausting negotiations that ended with Ukraine agreeing to a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day cease-fire with Russia, it was not until the delegation from Kyiv was flying home that it got the news it was most desperate to hear: American military assistance was flowing again.

“I will only say that there is no better reward for such a crazy day than to learn, while already sitting on the plane, a short dry confirmation” that military aid had restarted, Gosha Tykhyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign minister, wrote on social media after talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia.

The resumption of U.S. weapons deliveries and intelligence sharing was one outcome of the meeting on Tuesday in the coastal city of Jeddah. Ukraine agreeing to the cease-fire proposal was another — but only if Russia agrees to do the same.

While Ukrainians were deeply skeptical that Russia would accept the proposal for a cease-fire, the unfreezing of critical American assistance was widely seen as a positive development that could help mend the ruptured relationship between Kyiv and Washington.

“I would like to thank President Trump for the constructive nature of the dialogue between our teams,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in his nightly address to the nation — seemingly taking care to publicly express gratitude after he was accused of not being appreciative enough during a disastrous Oval Office meeting last month with the American president that led to the suspension of U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing.

The sudden reduction in support came after weeks of growing tension as the White House seemed to more closely align itself with the Kremlin while increasing the pressure on its ally.