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Ukraine says ceasefire accords brokered by US take immediate effect

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a truce with Russia covering the Black Sea and energy strikes was effective immediately on Tuesday and he would ask US President Donald Trump to supply weapons and sanction Russia if Moscow broke the deals.

The US said earlier it had made separate agreements with Kyiv and Moscow to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and to implement a ban on attacks on energy facilities in the two countries.

“The US side considers our agreements come into force after their announcement by the US side,” Zelensky told reporters at a news conference in Kyiv, adding he did not trust Russia to honour the arrangements.

The accords are the first aimed at halting energy strikes since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, triggering Europe's biggest conflict since World War 2. The fighting rages on across a 1,000km front line.

The Ukrainian leader cautioned the agreements did not set out a course of action if Russia broke them and said he would appeal directly to the US president if that happened.

“We have no faith in the Russians, but we will be constructive,” he said.

He said US officials saw the energy ceasefire as also covering attacks on other civilian infrastructure and ports should be covered by the Black Sea agreement.

Nightly Russian drone attacks have been a feature of life in big Ukrainian cities for many months. So have power outages as missiles have hammered the power grid. Kyiv has used drones to hit Russian oil refineries to raise the costs for its much larger foe.

Zelensky said Ukraine presented US officials during talks with a list of facilities that should be covered by the moratorium on energy strikes.

The deals were announced after two days of talks in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian officials on the one hand and US and Russian officials on the other.

Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov, who took part in the talks, wrote on X: “All parties agreed to develop measures for implementing the presidents’ agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Ukraine and Russia.”

The White House said in a joint statement with Russia it would help Moscow restore its access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports.

Zelensky said Ukraine had not agreed to put that in its statement with the US side.

“We believe this is a weakening of position and sanctions,” he said.

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