US brokers deal to halt Black Sea fighting in talks with Ukraine, Russia
ByHT News Desk
Mar 26, 2025 03:28 AM IST
The announcement followed three days of US-led talks in Saudi Arabia on a possible limited ceasefire.
The US on Tuesday announced a tentative deal for Ukraine and Russia to halt fighting and ensure safe Black Sea navigation after separate talks, but key details remain unresolved. The Kremlin linked the deal to easing some Western sanctions.
US experts held separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Riyadh, where both sides “agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea,”(AFP)
US experts held separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Riyadh, where both sides “agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea,”(AFP)
The announcement followed three days of US-led talks in Saudi Arabia on a possible limited ceasefire. While a broader peace deal remains distant, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called the talks “right steps” toward ending the war and achieving a lasting, fair peace.
US experts meet in Riyadh
US experts held separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Riyadh, where both sides “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 White House said in separate statements.
Details of the deal were not disclosed, but it appears to be another effort to secure Black Sea shipping after a 2022 U.N.-Turkey-brokered agreement, which Russia halted in 2023.
“We are making a lot of progress,” U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday at the White House. “So that’s all I can report.”
Moscow withdrew from the 2023 shipping deal, citing unfulfilled promises to ease restrictions on Russian food and fertilizer exports. It claimed shipping and insurance limits hurt its agricultural trade, while Kyiv accused Russia of delaying vessel inspections. After Russia suspended its role, it frequently targeted Ukraine’s southern ports and grain storage facilities.
What did Russia say?
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday in televised remarks that Moscow is open to reviving the Black Sea shipping deal but insisted that Russian interests must be safeguarded.
Addressing Moscow’s demands, the White House stated 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.”
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for investment and economic cooperation, called the talks a “major shift toward peace, enhanced global food security and essential grain supplies for over 100 million additional people.”
Trump “is making another global breakthrough by effective dialogue and problem-solving,” he said on X.
However, the Kremlin warned that the Black Sea deal could only proceed if sanctions on the Russian Agricultural Bank and other financial institutions linked to food and fertilizer trade are lifted, along with their access to the SWIFT international payment system.
The agreement is also contingent on removing sanctions against Russian food and fertilizer exporters, ships carrying Russian food, and restrictions on exporting agricultural equipment to Russia, the Kremlin said. The deal also requires commercial ship inspections to ensure they are not used for military purposes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Russia’s demand to lift sanctions, stating that doing so “would weaken our position.”
Despite this, Trump indicated that the U.S. was evaluating Russia’s conditions, saying, “We’re thinking about all of them right now.”
A senior Ukrainian official familiar with the negotiations, speaking anonymously as he was not authorized to comment publicly, stated that Kyiv does not support lifting sanctions as a condition for a maritime ceasefire and argued that Russia has not taken any steps to justify sanctions relief. He also noted that European nations are not involved in discussions about lifting sanctions, as they fall under the European Union’s jurisdiction.
Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov warned that Russian warships in the western Black Sea would be considered a “violation of the commitment to ensure safe navigation” and “a threat to the national security of Ukraine.”
“In this case, Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defense,” he said.
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