[ad_1]
Russia and Ukraine agreed to stop attacking ships in the Black Sea after intense negotiations with the US in Saudi Arabia.
It is not the full ceasefire that Donald Trump continues to push Putin’s invasion of Ukraine three years after Vladimir Putin, but the move is considered progress by the White House.
An American delegation held separate conversations with peers from Russia and Ukraine over three days to Tuesday.
The talks with Kyiv came with Kremlin representatives on either side of a 12-hour discussion on Monday, described by a Russian official as ‘challenging’ but ‘useful’.
The White House released details on the agreement, which is similar to a 2022 agreement to enable safe transport on the Black Sea that was stopped in 2023.
But how long the current agreement will last – and even if it officially starts – remain uncertain after Russia has carried out drone strikes overnight on an important Ukrainian port city.
This is what we know about the agreement.
What is the agreement?
The White House said both countries agreed to various key measures following the talks in Riyadh.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to:
- Stop using power and allow the safe navigation of ships in the Black Sea.
- Develop measures for implementing the agreement to ban strikes on energy facilities.
- Work with mediating countries to implement the agreements.
- Work on a lasting peace.
As part of the agreement, the US also said it would help restore Russia’s access to global agricultural and fertilizer markets – which was hit by war sanctions, helping to reduce the cost of maritime insurance and improve access to ports and international payment systems.
For Ukraine, the US said it was still committed to help facilitates prisoners of war exchanges as well as the release of civil detainees, and to help “violently convey the return of the Ukrainian children.
What did Russia say?
Russia says the agreement cannot begin until its conditions are met for repaired access to global trading markets and payment systems.
“In terms of the Black Sea Grain initiative, it can be activated after a number of conditions have been implemented,” Kremlin spokeswoman Dmitri Peskov told reporters.
Russia’s foreign minister also said the US would have to enforce the new agreement to let cargo ships go through the Black Sea.
“We will need clear guarantees,” Sergei Lavrov told Russian State Channel One television.
‘And given the sad experience of similarities to Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelensky and his team to do one thing and not the other.
“We want the grain and fertilizer market to be predictable so no one tries to ward us off.”
What did Zelensky say?
Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would maintain the agreement immediately and accused Russia of “manipulation” because he said it would only begin with the ceasefire after the conditions were met.
“They are already trying to distort similarities and in fact deceive our intermediaries and the whole world,” Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Tuesday.
Later, after Russia performed drone strikes overnight that hit Ukrainian Black Sea Port -Stad Mykolaev, Ukrainian president said the attacks are proof that Russia does not want peace.
“Last night there was another 117 evidence in our sky about how Russia continues to drag this war out – 117 strike drones, most of them Shaheds. A significant number was shot dead by our air defenders,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X.
“The introduction of such large -scale attacks to truce negotiations is a clear sign for the whole world that Moscow does not intend to practice real peace.”
What did the US say?
Donald Trump thinks Russia wants to end his war with Ukraine, but acknowledged that Putin did not offer a quick end to the conflict.
“I think Russia wants to end it, but it may be that they drag their feet. I have done it over the years, ‘he said in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday night.
According to the official statement of the White House after the long negotiations, US officials “President Donald J. Trump’s imperative reiterated that the death of both sides of the Russia-Cewraine conflict should stop, as the necessary step to bring about a lasting peace action.”
What happens next?
This is the most important question, after Russia launched an attack on the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaev overnight, which provides access to the Black Sea.
Mr. Zelensky fell against Russia after overnight attacks and said the next few days would be the key to seeing if Russia was serious about moving to peace.
“The introduction of such large -scale attacks on treasure negotiations is a clear sign for the whole world that Moscow does not intend to practice real peace,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X on Wednesday.
The US said it would continue to facilitate negotiations between both sides to find a ‘peaceful resolution’.
The Kremlin said that any move to a greater peace will be gradual.
“Generally … there are many, many different aspects of the settlement that need to be worked out,” Mr. Peskov said earlier this week Washington Post.
[ad_2]
Source link
