PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

After 10 days of U.S. pressure on Ukraine following a disastrous Oval Office meeting, today, the U.S. and Ukraine appear to be back in sync.

AMNA NAWAZ: Following a meeting in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. has restarted military and intelligence aid to Ukraine, and the U.S. will present a joint U.S.-Ukraine proposal to Moscow for a cease-fire.

Here's Nick Schifrin with more.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In Saudi Arabia today, a breakthrough.

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. National Security Adviser: The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear, that they share President Trump's vision for peace.

NICK SCHIFRIN: National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, met with their Ukrainian counterparts for seven-and-a-half-hours, and after said the U.S. and Ukraine were on the same page.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. Secretary of State: Today, we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a cease-fire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's enduring and sustainable.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In exchange, the U.S. agreed to lift a pause on military aid and intelligence cooperation to the Ukrainian military.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: It's a big difference between the last visit you saw at the Oval Office and this.

So, that's a total cease-fire.

Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it.

NICK SCHIFRIN: That tone... DONALD TRUMP: You're gambling with the lives of millions of people.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President: You think... DONALD TRUMP: You're gambling with World War III.

NICK SCHIFRIN: .. a far cry from and perhaps a rehabilitation after the February 28 Oval Office train wreck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke tonight.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through translator): Ukraine is ready for peace.

Russia must also show whether it's ready to end the war or continue it.

The time has come for the whole truth.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Later this week, senior adviser Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to present the joint U.S.-Ukraine proposal.

MARCO RUBIO: The best goodwill gesture the Russians can provide is to say yes, to say yes to the offer that the Ukrainians have made to stop the shooting, to stop the fighting, and get to the table.

If they say no, then we will unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And that was a crucial rhetorical shift today, acknowledging Ukraine's perspective and requests for long-term military assistance.

MARCO RUBIO: Real negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's acceptable to both sides, sustainable, and that ensures the stability and security of Ukraine for the long term.

JOHN HERBST, Former U.S.

Ambassador to Ukraine: As long as it's not undercut by the next step in Moscow, it's a good day which has historic significance.

NICK SCHIFRIN: John Herbst is the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the senior director of The Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.

So far, Russia has shown no public willingness to drop its maximalist goals in Ukraine.

And, earlier today, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocked Zelenskyy as a warmonger.

SERGEY LAVROV, Russian Foreign Minister (through translator): Mr. Zelenskyy publicly declares that he does not want to truce until the United States guarantees that, in the event that something happens, they will bomb Russia with nuclear weapons.

JOHN HERBST: I don't think Putin wants to agree to the cease-fire.

He wants to take more Ukrainian territory.

He wants to establish effective control over Ukraine, which he cannot do if he accepts the cease-fire.

We will see if he crosses Trump now, and, maybe more important, what President Trump does if Putin obviously and publicly refuses to make peace on the basis of this proposal.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Guaranteeing that peace will fall mostly on Europe.

Today, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted military leaders who are developing plans to support Ukraine's military for the next 15 years, said French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

SEBASTIEN LECORNU, French Defense Minister (through translator): Since 2008, we saw the Russian strategy in action, with unfortunately cease-fires that haven't been respected.

We will refuse any form of demilitarization of Ukraine.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But, until then, the war rages.

Overnight, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack into Russia in three years of war.

Ukraine's been trying to bring the war to regular Russians' bedrooms literally.Drones hit inside apartments in the Moscow suburbs.

But Russia is making its own gains, raising the Russian tricolor in the Russian region of Kursk, which has been occupied by Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Russian soldiers said they walked through a nine-mile-long natural gas pipeline in Kursk to surprise Ukrainian soldiers from the rear in now devastated villages.

This war has taken a terrible toll on land and lives.

And now there's a tentative step to negotiate its end.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.