WASHINGTON, United States
United States lawmakers welcomed Tuesday’s announcement that Ukraine had agreed to a 30-day ceasefire as a step toward peace in Europe.
“I'm very encouraged the
parties have reached an agreement. I think the president now has decided to
lift the freeze on intelligence and weapons — very significant,” Republican
Representative Michael McCaul, former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
told our reporter.
The United States announced
last week that it would cease military aid and intelligence sharing with
Ukraine, following the Oval Office clash between U.S. President Donald Trump
and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 28. Following the announcement
of the ceasefire agreement, the United States said Tuesday that it would resume
cooperation with Ukraine.
“That actually should never
have happened in the first place. That never should have been a pause that has
real life consequences for Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom and
for democracy and for national security. So it's positive that that was lifted
by the administration,” Democratic Representative Jason Crow said.
ALSO READ: Ukraine ready to accept 30-day ceasefire with Russia
The United States and Ukraine
were supposed to sign a minerals deal, although that was called off after the
two leaders publicly disagreed over U.S. aid to Ukraine.
“The next step will be for
President Zelenskyy to come hopefully back to the Oval Office to sign the
economic cooperation agreement. Then everything is going to turn to Mr. Putin,”
McCaul said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has not agreed to the
ceasefire, but Trump said Tuesday that he had representatives on their way to
Moscow for discussions.
“I'm hoping the Trump
administration will start reaching out to Putin and Russia, bring them to the
table and make sure they make some concessions that are reasonable and
beneficial to the Ukrainian people,” Democratic Representative Glenn Ivey said.
“Russia, unfortunately, does
not have a good record of living up to ceasefires,” Pifer said. “We saw what
happened between 2014 and 2021 in Donbas, but this is going to be the challenge
now, and if the Russians cannot abide by the ceasefire, I think that will be a
signal to Washington that the Russians are not serious about finding a solution
to this war.”
Trump and Zelenskyy also
publicly disagreed about who was responsible for starting the three-year
conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
"We have to understand
that Vladimir Putin is the aggressor. He's the one who started this war. He's
the one who can end it by withdrawing his troops. So we're going to see whether
this administration can force him to the table on terms that are favorable to
the United States and Ukraine,” Crow said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
led more than eight hours of peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, to reach the agreement. Republican lawmakers praised Trump and
his Cabinet for their strong negotiating stance.
Republican Representative
Derrick Van Orden said: “For three years now, there’s been too much killing and
too much destruction in Ukraine and in Russia. So this is a very, very positive
thing, and I'm very proud of Secretary Rubio, also Mike Waltz, national
security adviser.”
Lawmakers also expressed hope
that economic cooperation between the United States and Ukraine could resume.
Another Republican
Representative Andy Barr said that President Trump is right, and President
Trump's proposal to enhance and deepen U.S. investment in Ukraine and critical
minerals, oil, natural gas will strengthen deterrence against Russian
aggression.
Pifer noted the ceasefire deal
“also has language where it talks about continuing to work between Washington
and Kyiv on Ukraine's long-term security. I think that's important, because I
think one of the key demands, as I understand from Ukraine, is that there has
to be some guarantee for Ukraine security so this war does not resume at some
point in the future.”
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