The ball is now in Russia’s court for the proposed ceasefire to start in Ukraine next Tuesday, according to the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. This is the first major breakthrough in peace talks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over a thousand days ago – in which at least half a million Russians and Ukrainians have died, at least the same number seriously injured, and nearly 20 times the number displaced.
Russia has yet to state terms for a peace deal – and so far has not addressed the Ukrainian proposal for a 30-day cessation of hostilities, tabled in Jeddah this Tuesday, in any specific detail. The official spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry in Moscow has muttered gnomically about “not heeding discussions in foreign lands”.
