U.S. lawmakers welcomed Tuesday’s announcement that Ukraine had agreed to a 30-day ceasefire as a step toward peace in Europe.

“I’m very encouraged the parties have reached an agreement. I think the president now has decided to lift the freeze on intelligence and weapons — very significant,” Republican Representative Michael McCaul, former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told VOA.

The United States announced last week that it would cease military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, following the Oval Office clash between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 28. Following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, the United States said Tuesday that it would resume cooperation with Ukraine.

“That actually should never have happened in the first place. That never should have been a pause that has real life consequences for Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom and for democracy and for national security. So it’s positive that that was lifted by the administration,” Democratic Representative Jason Crow told VOA.

The United States and Ukraine were supposed to sign a minerals deal, although that was called off after the two leaders publicly disagreed over U.S. aid to Ukraine.

“The next step will be for President Zelenskyy to come hopefully back to the Oval Office to sign the economic cooperation agreement. Then everything is going to turn to Mr. Putin,” McCaul said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia has not agreed to the ceasefire, but Trump said Tuesday that he had representatives on their way to Moscow for discussions.

“I’m hoping the Trump administration will start reaching out to Putin and Russia, bring them to the table and make sure they make some concessions that are reasonable and beneficial to the Ukrainian people,” Democratic Representative Glenn Ivey told VOA.

But Steven Pifer, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and former diplomat, told VOA there was still a great deal of uncertainty.

“Russia, unfortunately, does not have a good record of living up to ceasefires,” Pifer said. “We saw what happened between 2014 and 2021 in Donbas, but this is going to be the challenge now, and if the Russians cannot abide by the ceasefire, I think that will be a signal to Washington that the Russians are not serious about finding a solution to this war.”

Trump and Zelenskyy also publicly disagreed about who was responsible for starting the three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“We have to understand that Vladimir Putin is the aggressor. He’s the one who started this war. He’s the one who can end it by withdrawing his troops. So we’re going to see whether this administration can force him to the table on terms that are favorable to the United States and Ukraine,” Crow told VOA.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio led more than eight hours of peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to reach the agreement. Republican lawmakers praised Trump and his Cabinet for their strong negotiating stance.

“For three years now, there’s been too much killing and too much destruction in Ukraine and in Russia. So this is a very, very positive thing, and I’m very proud of Secretary Rubio, also Mike Waltz, national security adviser,” Republican Representative Derrick Van Orden, told VOA.

Lawmakers also expressed hope that economic cooperation between the United States and Ukraine could resume.

“President Trump is right, and President Trump’s proposal to enhance and deepen U.S. investment in Ukraine and critical minerals, oil, natural gas will strengthen deterrence against Russian aggression,” Republican Representative Andy Barr told VOA.

Pifer noted the ceasefire deal “also has language where it talks about continuing to work between Washington and Kyiv on Ukraine’s long-term security. I think that’s important, because I think one of the key demands, as I understand from Ukraine, is that there has to be some guarantee for Ukraine security so this war does not resume at some point in the future.”

Kateryna Lisunova and Iryna Shynkarenko contributed to this report.