• Putin says he has “serious questions” about ceasefire plan.
• US secretary of state says “ball is now in (Russia’s) court”.
• Saudi Arabia hosts talks between Rubio, his Russian counterpart.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the kingdom supports “all initiatives” to end the Ukraine war, a statement said on Friday, after US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah proposed a 30-day ceasefire.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s “commitment to facilitating dialogue and supporting all initiatives aimed at achieving a political resolution” in a phone call with Putin, a foreign ministry statement said.

On Thursday Putin said he had “serious questions” about the ceasefire plan, which was announced after talks in the western Saudi Arabian city on Tuesday.

Washington also agreed to resume military intelligence and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, which it shut off after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s White House row with President Donald Trump.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Jeddah after the talks, said the “ball is now in (Russia’s) court”.

According to a Kremlin statement, Putin told Prince Mohammed that he “noted the importance of resolving the Ukrainian crisis and expressed readiness to continue to contribute in every possible way to the normalisation of Russian-American relations”.

Saudi Arabia also hosted talks between Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov last month where they agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the three-year war.