Yesterday's meeting in Jeddah between the US and Ukrainian delegations, dedicated to ending the war and leading to the renewal of US military and intelligence support for Kiev, is a leading topic in the world press.
"Ukraine supports 30-day ceasefire, and the US says it will renew its military aid", reads the headline of the American newspaper. "New York Times".
The agreement announced yesterday has given new impetus to efforts for a ceasefire, with the ball for any truce now in Russia's court, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, quoted by the publication.
On the eve of the negotiations, the top US diplomat added that Kiev would have to cede some territories to Russia as part of the peace agreement, the British newspaper recalls. "Financial Times".
"The Russians cannot take over all of Ukraine, and it will clearly be very difficult for Ukraine to force the Russians back to where they were in 2014 in a reasonable time frame," Rubio said, referring to Ukraine's borders before the Kremlin annexed Crimea that year.
"Will Putin accept the 30-day ceasefire approved by Zelensky?", asks the French newspaper "Midi Libre" in its headline. All eyes are on Moscow, the publication emphasizes.
"Has Ukraine called Putin's bluff?", asks the British newspaper "Spectator", publishing an article by Mark Galeotti, head of the consulting company "Mayak Intelligence" and emeritus professor in the Department of Slavic and East European Studies at University College London.
It certainly seems so, the expert believes. While the Ukrainians refused to agree to a ceasefire, Moscow could present them as an obstacle to the quick deal that Donald Trump seems to be seeking to conclude.
Earlier, after the intervention of French President Emmanuel Macron, Kiev had floated the idea of a limited ceasefire, covering only long-range drone attacks on the other side's cities and strategic infrastructure, as well as operations in the Black Sea, Galeotti recalls. But it was an impossible idea, a very transparent trap for Putin, hoping to make him look like an intransigent country if he rejected it, he added.
That certainly seems to have been Kiev's plan since last night, when an unprecedented attack on Moscow by some 140 drones was carried out, in which three civilians were killed. The timing was hardly coincidental, Galeotti noted.
"Putin wants neither a ceasefire nor American weapons and intelligence to go to Kiev again", the British newspaper "Daily Telegraph" also believes.
""Get ready for a new level of evasion", the publication warns. According to him, on a visible level, the outcome of the talks in Jeddah could look like an extraordinary reversal in America's position. But beneath the surface, the truth is more complicated, notes the "Daily Telegraph".
"Despite all the noise, Washington appears to be following the plan published last year by General Keith Kellogg, now Trump's envoy to Ukraine. It can be roughly summed up as follows: pressure the Ukrainians until they agree to a ceasefire and peace talks, then turn their backs on the Russians until they reciprocate. But what if Russia doesn't reciprocate?!", the newspaper writes.
The vital question is: how will America react if Vladimir Putin simply rejects the Jeddah offer, emphasizes the "Daily Telegraph". And the Russian president will be extremely reluctant to accept a ceasefire just as his forces are finally advancing against the Ukrainian stronghold in the Kursk region of Russia, the newspaper notes.
Putin would prefer a ceasefire to be the last step, when everything else has been decided, allowing the Russians to maintain military pressure to extract concessions from Ukraine during possible negotiations, the publication argues.
But now Rubio wants them to do the exact opposite - to stop the fighting at a time when Ukraine still controls about 100 square kilometers of Russian territory, which it can use as a bargaining chip for some of its lands, the "Daily Telegraph" points out.
If Russia rejects this offer, the US has one obvious step, and it is included in the Kellogg plan: to increase the pressure by increasing military aid to Ukraine, the British publication reminds. On the other hand, it is unlikely that Trump will ask the US Congress to approve military aid similar to the one he himself has publicly ridiculed, the newspaper believes.
It is perhaps more likely that Russia will pretend to accept the Jeddah offer and do enough to prevent America from renewing its support for Ukraine, while at the same time breaking the ceasefire and finding a way to blame Zelensky for it, summarizes the "Daily Telegraph".
Putin's main advantage is that Trump and his associates are clearly influenced by Russian messages and claims. But there is no doubt that skillful Ukrainian diplomacy has suddenly turned the spotlight on Putin and presented him with a difficult decision, emphasizes the "Telegraph".