In a diplomatic landscape that has looked like a disaster zone for Ukraine since US President Donald Trump and his team ideologically aligned themselves with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did his best on Wednesday, March 12, to appear serene the day after the a US-Ukrainian ceasefire agreement was reached in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In front of the press at Bankova, the Ukrainian president's headquarters, he welcomed "the first constructive discussions" between Kyiv and Washington, insisting on the "importance of being heard."

The Jeddah agreement states that Ukraine accepts the principle of a 30-day ceasefire, which will now be proposed to Russia, in exchange for an "immediate" resumption of military cooperation and military intelligence sharing with the US. After the spectacular rupture triggered during the February 28 meeting in Washington between Trump, the US vice president, JD Vance, and Zelensky, the restoration of cooperation comes as a relief for Kyiv.

Since Trump came to power, the Ukrainian president has been careful to show that he remains calm and determined. It is his rhetoric, however, that has evolved. The word "victory," omnipresent since the Ukrainian army defeated Russian forces at the gates of Kyiv in 2022, has now been replaced by "peace."

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