The White House announced on Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a ceasefire in the Black Sea and to implement a ban on attacks on energy facilities by both countries.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to “ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea,” the Trump administration said in two separate statements, after U.S. officials held separate bilateral talks with Ukrainian and Russian delegations this week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Additionally, both statements said that Russia and Ukraine would stop striking each other’s energy facilities; The agreements, if implemented, could mark a major step toward a wider deal to end their three-year-long war.
One of the statements spoke about the talks with the Kremlin said the U.S. would help to “restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.” In the second statement, the White House said the U.S. and Ukraine had agreed that America “remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.”
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview (per Reuters) that the Kremlin could not trust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and it would only sign a Black Sea deal if Washington issued an “order” to him to respect it: “We will need clear guarantees. And given the sad experience of agreements with just Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelenskyy and his team to do one thing and not the other.”
The Kremlin said in a statement published by the Russian state-run news agency TASS: “In accordance with the agreement between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, the Russian and American sides agreed to ensure the implementation of the ‘Black Sea Initiative,’ which includes ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, the non-use of force and the prevention of the use of commercial vessels for military purposes while organizing appropriate control measures through the inspection of such vessels.”
Zelenskyy said it was his country’s understanding that the Black Sea agreement was in effect immediately, but said in news conference he had “questions about how all this will be implemented,” and that there was “no faith in the Russians here, but I believe that we will be constructive.” Zelenskyy also noted that the statements did not specify any actions to be taken if Russia violates the terms of the agreement, adding that Ukraine would appeal directly to the Trump administration for more weapons and more sanctions against Russia in such a case.
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