Russia and Ukraine agree to Black Sea ceasefire deal

Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement on Tuesday, brokered by the United States, to suspend attacks on energy infrastructure in both countries. The talks also resulted in a cessation of hostilities in the Black Sea — perhaps the most significant development of the negotiations — though the Kremlin has conditioned this on the lifting of Western sanctions on Russia’s agricultural sector.

The agreement, reached after three days of deliberations clouded by skepticism, is the first of its kind since July 2022. At that time — just five months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine — an accord was secured to safeguard grain exports. While doubts remain about its implementation, this latest deal marks the first tangible step toward a negotiated resolution to a war that has now lasted more than three years. Since taking office last January, U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to work toward an agreement that would bring an end to the fighting.

In two statements jointly approved by both parties, Washington has committed to overseeing compliance with the agreement. Notably, the statements do not impose the initially proposed 30-day limit on the truce. Furthermore, the U.S. has pledged to assist Russia in restoring its agricultural and fertilizer exports, which have been restricted by Western sanctions.

Beyond these official declarations, the Kremlin has outlined, in its own statement, the commitments and agreements made with Washington. The most significant, according to Moscow, is the implementation of what it calls the “Black Sea Initiative,” which “prevents the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.”

In exchange, Russia seeks the lifting of sanctions. The Kremlin has made it clear that the grain agreement will not take effect unless restrictions on agricultural machinery exports to Russia and banking operations in the sector are lifted. Specifically, Moscow insists that Russian financial institutions involved in agricultural exports — including Rosselkhozbank, the country’s main agricultural bank — must be reconnected to SWIFT, a global financial messaging system crucial for secure money transfers.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the ceasefire came into effect immediately after the White House published the agreement’s details on Tuesday afternoon. “We believe that once Washington officially releases both statements, the ceasefire at sea and the ceasefire on energy infrastructure attacks should begin,” he stated during a press conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine, however, has voiced opposition to restoring Russian agricultural exports. The U.S. said it will “assist in restoring Russian agricultural and fertilizer exports to the global market.”

In response, Zelenskiy said: “We believe that this represents a weakening of our position and a relaxation of sanctions. We do not yet know the details of this issue, and we were not present at the meeting, so I cannot say anything. But that was not on our agenda.”

The White House statement on talks with Russia asserts that “the United States and Russia have agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.” It also specifies that the U.S. “will help 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.”

Using the same language of the two statements, Washington also confirmed an agreement with both parties to “ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine.” Zelenskiy, however, has requested that this protection extend to certain civilian facilities as well. “We have provided the U.S. with a separate list of civilian infrastructure sites. This will not be included in the official statement, but we agreed on it,” he said.

The statement on U.S.-Ukraine negotiations also addresses a key concern for Kyiv: the fate of Ukrainian children abducted and taken to Russia during the war. It states that “the United States and Ukraine agreed that the United States remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.”

When asked about potential consequences for violating the ceasefire, Zelenskiy acknowledged that the agreement lacks specific provisions on this matter. “It’s not in the agreement, I understand it’s because the U.S. side really wants this not to fall apart,” he admitted. “If we see that someone is violating it, we will communicate with the U.S. side with the facts and evidence that the Russian side violated the agreement.” He also stressed the importance of U.S. oversight in ensuring compliance, though the possibility of involving third-party nations has been discussed: “They have the intelligence and satellite capabilities to monitor the situation,” he said.

Marathon negotiations

The negotiations in Riyadh lasted three days. The first meeting, between Ukrainian and U.S. representatives, took place on Sunday, though no details were disclosed. On Monday, U.S. negotiators met with their Russian counterparts for a 12-hour session that ran late into the night, pushing the final meeting with the Ukrainian side to Tuesday.

Trump recently claimed that U.S. officials had also discussed with Russia the future status of Russian-occupied territories and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which remains under Russian occupation. The U.S. president proposed that U.S. companies oversee Ukraine’s four nuclear plants, particularly Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest. However, Zelenskiy categorically denied any discussion of territorial concessions: “The U.S. and Russia may have talked about it, but not with us. They know this is a deeply sensitive issue,” he stated.

According to The Moscow Times, the Russian delegation in Riyadh conveyed to U.S. officials a demand that Ukraine not only relinquish sovereignty over all Russian-controlled territories but also cede additional parts of the Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions that remain under Ukrainian government control.

Ukrainian officials have also expressed alarm over comments made on March 22 by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy for the Middle East and Russia. In an interview with pro-Russian commentator Tucker Carlson, Witkoff claimed that “the vast majority” of residents in occupied territories had voted in a 2022 referendum to join Russia. However, he failed to mention that most of the population had fled due to the war and that the referendums were conducted under Russian military control.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition