WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, the United States reached separate agreements with Ukraine and Russia to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and to prohibit both countries from attacking each other’s energy facilities.
If implemented, the agreements would represent the clearest progress yet toward a broader cease-fire, which Washington sees as a stepping stone to peace talks to end Russia’s three-year war in Ukraine.
Both countries said they would rely on Washington to enforce the agreements.
“If the Russians violate this, I have a direct question for President Donald Trump. “If they violate, here is the evidence; we ask for sanctions, weapons, and so on,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters at a news conference in Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated, “We will need clear guarantees. And, given the unfortunate history of agreements with only Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of a directive from Washington to Zelenskyy and his team to do one thing and not the other.”
The agreements, reached in Saudi Arabia, follow talks initiated by President Donald Trump, who has vowed to end the war quickly and has shifted Washington’s position from firmly supporting Kyiv to one more sympathetic to Moscow.
Under the terms of the agreement, Washington agreed to assist Russia in regaining market access for its agricultural and fertiliser exports. The Kremlin stated that some sanctions would need to be lifted.
The talks came after Trump spoke separately with Zelenskyy and Putin last week. Putin rejected Trump’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine had previously supported.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov stated that any movement of Russian military vessels outside the eastern part of the Black Sea would be considered a violation and a threat, in which case Ukraine would have full self-defense rights.
Pause on attacks on energy facilities
Russia has attacked Ukraine’s power grid with missiles and drones throughout the conflict, claiming that civil energy infrastructure is a legitimate target because it aids Ukraine’s warfighting capability.
More recently, Ukraine has launched long-range strikes on Russian oil and gas targets, claiming they provide fuel for Russian troops and revenue to fund the war effort.
Early in the war, Russia imposed a de facto naval blockade on Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, threatening to exacerbate the global food crisis.
However, maritime battles have been a minor part of the conflict since 2023, when Russia withdrew its naval forces from the eastern Black Sea following a series of successful Ukrainian attacks. Despite the collapse of a previous Black Sea shipping agreement brokered by the United Nations, Kyiv was able to reopen its ports and resume exports at pre-war levels.
Trump is putting pressure on both sides to end the war as soon as possible, as he promised when running for president last year.
At the same time, he is pursuing a rapid rapprochement with Russia, which Washington and Moscow believe will lead to lucrative business opportunities.
Ukraine and its European allies are concerned that Trump will make a hasty deal with Putin that undermines their security and gives in to Russian demands, including Kyiv abandoning its NATO ambitions and ceding control of four regions claimed by Russia. Ukraine has rejected this as tantamount to surrender.
