The White House said Ukraine and Russia agreed to stop fighting in the Black Sea.
The White House said on Tuesday that Ukraine and Russia agreed to stop fighting in the Black Sea and abandon details of stopping strikes on energy facilities. It will be the first step towards the entire ceasefire the Trump administration has been pushing, but it still hasn’t reached that goal, and it’s unclear how and when this limited ceasefire will be implemented.
Both Ukraine and Russia confirmed the agreement, although Moscow appears to have some serious warnings. The Kremlin said in a statement on talks that the agreement can only be respected after reconnecting its national Agricultural Bank to the international payment system and lifting restrictions on “trade financing business”, which are some of the fines imposed by Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement on the U.S.-Russia talks, the White House seemed to agree at least certain conditions, saying it would help restore Russian agricultural and fertilizer exports to the world market, lower maritime insurance, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.”
The agreements came after three days of intense negotiations in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, during which delegations from Ukraine and Russia met separately with the U.S. mediators.
The White House made two different statements, saying it had deals with Ukraine and Russia regarding maritime and energy attacks. Washington, Kiev and Moscow welcome third countries to participate in “supporting the implementation of energy and maritime agreements”, the statement added.
Although these agreements reached a breakout in Ukraine’s ceasefire after three years of total war, and even limited efforts, they did not seem to draw important concessions from the invader state of Russia.
Kiev and Moscow were interested in stopping strikes on their respective energy facilities, which caused pain to both sides. Russia, in particular, will profit from the ceasefire in the Black Sea, and Ukraine’s repeated attacks forced its navy to retreat.
Although Russian President Vladimir V. Putin described himself as opening up of President Trump’s demands, such as stopping strikes on energy facilities or security in the Black Sea, they are goals the Kremlin has pursued in the past and seen as a favorable target in its own past.
Mr. Putin rejected an earlier proposal agreed by Ukraine, halting a total of 30 days of ceasefire. He said a broader armistice would have to stop the aid of Western military aid to Ukraine and the country’s mobilization efforts – both conditions are non-stages in Ukraine.
Now, Ukraine and Russia are now expected to phase out the details of the implementation of a maritime and energy ceasefire. Rustem Umerov, who led his country’s delegation in Riyadh, said “other technical consultations” must be held as soon as possible to conduct “implementation, monitoring and control of the arrangements”.
The two countries had agreed last week to stop the crackdown on energy facilities, but they have not implemented the agreement and quickly accused each other of their ongoing attacks on energy sites.
The strike on energy facilities has been at the heart of both sides’ efforts to weaken each other throughout the war. Russia has slammed Ukraine’s power grid, aiming to make civilians intolerable and hinder its efforts to war. Ukraine repeatedly attacked Russian oil facilities in an attempt to stifle revenue from its military operations in Moscow.
Both Russia and Ukraine rely on the Black Sea for commodity exports. In mid-2022, they reached an agreement to allow Ukraine to ship grains, but Russia withdrew from the agreement a year later, believing that Western sanctions severely restricted its ability to export agricultural products.
Russia then threatened to travel to and from Ukraine with all commercial ships aimed at killing its ocean exports. In response, Ukrainian troops embarked on a campaign to drive the Russian Navy out of the western part of the Black Sea, destroy many warships, and attacked its headquarters in Russian-occupied Crimea. The operation allowed Ukraine to establish a new transportation corridor in the Black Sea and return marine cereal exports to the near menu.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mr. Umerov said that under the agreement, “all actions by Russia on military vessels outside the eastern Black Sea will constitute actions that violate the spirit of the agreement” and that Ukraine will have “the right to fully exercise the right of self-defense.”
The White House statement said both Russia and Ukraine agreed to “eliminate the use of force in the Black Sea.” It is unclear whether this will lead to a stop to the strike on the port infrastructure, which the Ukrainians discussed during negotiations. Kiev is also interested in restarting operations on front lines such as the Ukrainian port city (Mykolaiv and Kherson), and nearby combat forces them to close.
