Following three days of peace talks in Saudi Arabia, Russia and Ukraine have separately reached agreements with the United States to implement a naval ceasefire in the Black Sea. Washington stated that all parties will continue to work towards achieving a "lasting peace" and announced that these agreements will reopen a vital trade route.
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03-29, 2025According to a White House statement, both sides have also pledged to "develop measures" to implement a previously reached agreement prohibiting attacks on each other's energy infrastructure. However, Russia has indicated that the naval ceasefire will only take effect after multiple sanctions on its food and fertilizer trade are lifted.
U.S. officials have been meeting separately with negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv in Riyadh, aiming to facilitate a truce between the two sides. The Russian and Ukrainian delegations have not met directly. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the agreement to halt attacks in the Black Sea is a step in the right direction.
"It is too early to say that it will work, but these are the right meetings, the right decisions, the right steps," he said at a press conference in Kyiv. He also added, "After this, no one can accuse Ukraine of not moving towards sustainable peace." This comes after accusations from former U.S. President Donald Trump that he was obstructing peace deals.
However, shortly after Washington's announcement, the Kremlin stated that the Black Sea ceasefire would only take effect if sanctions against Russian banks, producers, and exporters involved in international food and fertilizer trade were lifted. The measures requested by Russia include reconnecting relevant banks to the SwiftPay payment system, removing service restrictions on ships flying the Russian flag participating in food trade, and lifting restrictions on the supply of agricultural machinery and other goods needed for food production. The White House statement did not specify when the agreement would take effect.
When asked about lifting sanctions, Trump told reporters, "We're looking at all of that right now. We're looking at them." Washington's statement on the U.S.-Russia talks did state that the U.S. would "help restore Russia's access to world markets for agricultural and fertilizer exports." Zelenskyy, speaking in Kyiv, called this a "weakening of positions." He also stated that if Moscow reneges on its commitments, Ukraine will push for further sanctions against Russia and seek more military support from the U.S.
Later, in his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin of lying when claiming the Black Sea ceasefire was contingent on lifting sanctions. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated that "third countries" could monitor parts of the agreement. However, he warned that the movement of Russian warships beyond the "eastern part of the Black Sea" would be considered a violation of the agreement and constitute a "threat to Ukraine's national security." "In this case, Ukraine will have every right to exercise its right to self-defense," he added.
Previously, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the two sides reached an arrangement allowing commercial vessels to safely transit the Black Sea. Ukraine and Russia are both major grain exporters, and prices soared after the war began. The "Black Sea Grain Initiative" was designed to allow cargo ships traveling to and from Ukraine to navigate safely without Russian attacks. The agreement facilitated the transportation of grain, sunflower oil, and products needed for food production, such as fertilizers, through the Black Sea.
The agreement was initially for 120 days, but after multiple extensions, Russia withdrew in July 2023, claiming that key parts of the agreement had not been implemented. Following this week's talks, the two countries also agreed to "develop measures" to implement a ban on attacking energy infrastructure on each other's territory. Russian attacks on Ukraine's electricity supply have caused widespread blackouts throughout the war, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without heat during the cold winter months.
Attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power plants have led the United Nations' atomic energy watchdog to call for restraint. Initially, a ban was agreed upon during a phone call between Trump and his Russian counterpart, President Putin, last week, but within hours of the announcement, both Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of violating the ban. Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow stated that Ukraine continued to target Russia's civilian energy infrastructure during peace talks in Riyadh.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the alleged attacks demonstrate that Zelenskyy is "unable to abide by agreements." This comes after Russia launched a missile strike on Monday targeting northeastern Ukraine, injuring over 100 people in the city of Sumy. On Tuesday morning, Ukraine stated that Russia had launched approximately 139 drones and a ballistic missile overnight. Kyiv added that up to 30 Russian soldiers were killed in an airstrike on military infrastructure in Kursk.
