Talking peace to Moscow, Kyiv

The 30-day ceasefire deal that Washington has forced Kyiv to agree to Tuesday may, hopefully, help pause the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russia, though Moscow has been non-committal to the US plan so far.

The outcome of the Jeddah talks was a given after the Trump administration hardened its stance by cutting off military aid and intelligence to Kyiv after a disastrous meeting at the White House on February 28 between Ukraine and US officials, curtailing Kyiv’s capabilities to withstand the Russian assault.

The Jeddah peace package does not talk about the US underwriting Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty although it does mention that the two countries will work towards a deal on tapping and developing the latter’s mineral resources. Kyiv had little choice but to accept this transactional deal since its defences were significantly bankrolled by the US.