KEY POINTS
- Russia and Ukraine agreed to halt military action in the Black Sea
- Kremlin said agreement to be implemented after the lifting of restrictions on Russian agriculture exports
- The US facilitated separate talks with Kyiv and Moscow in Saudi Arabia to end the war
- The US offered to help restore Russia’s access to global markets for agricultural and fertiliser exports
- Ukraine proposed that Turkey or European nations oversee aspects of a broader truce
- Russia’s foreign minister insisted any agreement must be enforced by Washington
WASHINGTON: Russia and Ukraine agreed Tuesday to halt military strikes in the Black Sea, achieving a tentative first step towards peace in talks with the United States held in Saudi Arabia.
With President Donald Trump pushing for a rapid end to the war that has killed tens of thousands of people, US negotiators met separately over three days in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh with delegations from Kyiv and Russia.
In parallel statements, the White House said that each country “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 Kremlin said that an agreement announced by the US on Russia and Ukraine halting strikes in the Black Sea could only come into force after the lifting of restrictions on Russian agriculture exports.
Moscow said the deal would “come into force” after the “lifting of sanctions restrictions” on the Russian Agricultural Bank and other “financial institutions involved in international trade of food”, and only after they are reconnected to the SWIFT international payment system.
The United States reiterated Trump’s “imperative that the killing on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict must stop, as the necessary step toward achieving an enduring peace settlement,” it said.
“To that end, the United States will continue facilitating negotiations between both sides to achieve a peaceful resolution, in line with the agreements made in Riyadh.”
In the most concrete incentive offered to Russia since the West imposed sweeping sanctions over the 2022 invasion, the United States said it would “help restore access to the world market” for Russian agricultural and fertilizer exports.
The United States never directly put sanctions on Russian agriculture but had restricted access to payment systems used for international transactions.
The issue became a major talking point for Russia, which told countries in the developing world that US policies were contributing to higher prices.
Still no broader truce
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukrainian and US officials agreed “third parties”, like Turkey, could oversee aspects of a future truce between Russia and Ukraine.
“That is not a bad thing, for example, someone from Europe or, for example, Turkey can be involved in the situation at sea, and maybe someone from the Middle East in terms of energy,” Zelensky told reporters following talks between the United States and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.
Zelensky said that he hoped to gain clarity from an upcoming summit in Paris on which countries would contribute forces to oversee peace agreements in his country.
“Our task is to come out with the result of understanding who we have and who is ready” to contribute forces to implement decisions on halting more than three years of fighting in Ukraine, Zelensky said.
Ukraine, which turned to diplomacy after heavy pressure from Trump including a brief cut-off in military aid and intelligence, said that details of the Black Sea ceasefire needed to be worked out.
“It is important to hold additional technical consultations as soon as possible to agree on all the details and technical aspects of the implementation, monitoring and control of the arrangements,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who took part in the talks, said on social media.
He also warned that if Russian warships moved from the eastern part of the Black Sea then “Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defence.”
Ukraine earlier this month agreed to a US-proposed ceasefire, but Russia turned it down.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow was ready to sign a new agreement on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea, but only if the United States ordered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to respect it.
Speaking in a televised address, Lavrov said that Russia would require “clear guarantees” before agreeing to a maritime ceasefire, stressing that previous agreements with Ukraine had not been honoured.
“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 Zelensky and his team to do one thing and not the other,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian state media.
A previous UN-brokered deal allowed millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports to be shipped safely from Ukraine’s ports, but Russia had complained that it was not beneficial for its trade.
Before the US announcement on agricultural exports, Lavrov accused Western countries of trying to “contain” Russia like “Napoleon and Hitler.”
No let-up on ground
The talks in Saudi Arabia came as both Russia and Ukraine escalated their attacks on the ground, with Kyiv saying its air defence units had downed 78 out of 139 drones launched by Russia Tuesday.
Russia has advanced in some areas of the front for months and the Kremlin has praised troops for recently retaking swathes of territory held by Ukraine in the border region of Kursk.
The Russian defence ministry on Tuesday claimed to have captured two more villages in southern and eastern Ukraine.
A Russian negotiator had said earlier on Tuesday that Moscow would continue “useful” talks with US representatives but would aim to involve the UN and other countries.
“We talked about everything, it was an intense dialogue, not easy, but very useful for us and the Americans,” Grigory Karasin told the state TASS news agency, adding that “lots of problems were discussed.”
“Of course, we are far from solving everything, from being in agreement on all points, but it seems that this type of discussion is very timely,” he said.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused the Kremlin of trying to put off any serious discussion of implementing a halt in hostilities.
