Russia, Ukraine agree to halt Black Sea strikes in US-brokered talks

Smoke rises over the Black Sea after Russian shelling on April 20, 2024 in Odesa, Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine have apparently agreed to halt military strikes in the Black Sea. Photo / Getty Images

• Russia and Ukraine agreed to halt military strikes in the Black Sea and on energy sites.
• The US brokered the talks, offering to ease pressure on Russian agricultural exports as an incentive.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was too early to tell if the agreements would work.

Russia and Ukraine agreed today to halt military strikes in the Black Sea and on energy sites during talks brokered by the United States, which offered to ease pressure on agricultural exports as a first concrete incentive to Moscow.

With US President Donald Trump pushing for a rapid end to the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, US negotiators shuttled separately over three days in the Saudi capital Riyadh between delegations from Ukraine and Russia.

In parallel statements, the White House said that each country “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 US said it would also look for ways to enforce a ban on strikes on energy infrastructure in the two countries.

US President Donald Trump, pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019, has been pushing for a rapid end to the war, with Russia agreeing to a 30-day energy truce. Photo / Kremlin Press Office

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said the agreement to halt strikes on the Black Sea could come into force only after the lifting of restrictions on its agriculture sector.

It said Russia and the US agreed that a 30-day energy truce ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week applies to pipelines, power stations and refineries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has turned to diplomacy after heavy pressure from Trump, including a brief ban on US aid and intelligence sharing, said it was too early to tell if the agreements would work but that they were “the right steps”.

Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv the talks also discussed bringing in third parties to oversee a future truce.

He said Turkey, which has maintained ties with both sides, could monitor the situation on the Black Sea and that a Middle Eastern nation could supervise the energy agreement.

Offer on agriculture

Trump spoke directly to Putin after taking office, ending the ostracisation of him by the West since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In the first concrete step by the US towards Russia in return for the engagement, the White House said it would “help restore access to the world market” for Russian agricultural and fertiliser exports.

The US never directly put sanctions on Russian agriculture but had restricted access to payment systems used for international transactions.

The issue became a major talking point for Russia, which told countries in the developing world that US policies — not the war itself — were contributing to higher prices.

Moscow said the deal would “come into force” after the “lifting of sanctions restrictions” on the Russian Agricultural Bank and other “financial institutions involved in international trade of food,” and only after they are reconnected to the Swift international payment system.

Zelenskyy, while saying he did not know full details of the US decision, voiced alarm.

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

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who took part in the talks, said details on the Black Sea agreement were still being worked out.

He also warned that if Russian warships moved from the eastern part of the Black Sea then “Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defence”.

Ukraine earlier this month agreed to a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire, but Russia turned it down, with Kyiv accusing it of wanting to gain more battlefield advantage first.

‘Napoleon and Hitler’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave no sign that Moscow was closer to agreeing to a wider ceasefire and put a priority on shipping through the Black Sea.

A previous UN-brokered deal allowed millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports to be shipped safely from Ukraine’s ports, but Russia had complained it was not beneficial for its trade.

Before the US announcement on agricultural exports, Lavrov accused Western countries of trying to “contain” Russia like “Napoleon and Hitler”.

Zelenskyy said he was expecting to gain clarity from a coming summit in Paris on which countries might contribute forces to oversee possible truce agreements by sending peacekeepers to his country.

The Saudi talks came as both Russia and Ukraine escalate their attacks on the ground, with Kyiv saying its air defence units had downed 78 of 139 drones launched by Russia on Tuesday.

In Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, officials said the toll from a Russian strike in a residential area a day earlier climbed to 101 wounded, including 23 children, with one adult and one child in serious condition.

Russia has advanced in some areas of the front for months and today claimed to have captured two more villages in southern and eastern Ukraine.

– Agence France-Presse