Russia and Ukraine have agreed separately to avoid military strikes on vessels in the Black Sea.
In parallel statements, the White House announced 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.”
It also said the two countries agreed to “develop measures for implementing” the earlier agreement to stop strikes against energy infrastructure, adding that Ukraine and Russia will also “continue working toward achieving a durable and lasting peace.”
In the Ukraine-specific readout, the White House said that the US confirmed it remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.
The Russia-specific document noted that the US would help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.
Both statements ended stressing that “the United States reiterated President Donald J. Trump’s imperative that the killing on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict must stop, as the necessary step toward achieving an enduring peace settlement.”
“To that end, the United States will continue facilitating negotiations between both sides to achieve a peaceful resolution, in line with the agreements made in Riyadh.”
White House
The announcement came after United States negotiators held talks with Russian and Ukrainian teams that were primarily focused on ending attacks on Black Sea shipping with a view to ushering in a broader ceasefire in the more-than three-year Russia-Ukraine war.
During a marathon 12-hour session on Monday, March 24, 2025, US and Russian officials discussed the possible resumption of the 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement that was supposed to allow Ukraine to ship millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports from its ports.
Moscow pulled out of the initiative, brokered by Turkiye and the United Nations, in 2023, accusing the West of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia’s own exports of farm products and fertilisers.
Prior to the White House announcements, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that his country favors the resumption of the Black Sea Initiative, though in a more acceptable format. “We support the return of the Black Sea Initiative in some form, better suited to all,” he said.
He also noted that Moscow needs very well-defined, verifiable, and functioning guarantees, “given Kyiv’s constant reversals and violation of agreements.”
He stressed that the guarantees can only be the result of an “order from Washington to Zelenskyy and his team to do one thing and not the other.”
Ukraine Confirms Black Sea Deal
Ukrainian Defence Minister, Rustem Umerov, who was a member of his country’s delegation in Riyadh, confirmed that Kyiv had agreed to the partial ceasefire, specifying that it included attacks on Black Sea shipping and energy infrastructure.
He warned in a post that Kyiv would view any movements of Russian warships “outside the eastern part” of the Black Sea as a violation of the agreement to stop the “use of force.”
He stated that in such an instance, Ukraine would have the “full right to exercise right to self-defence.”
He went further than the US statement on the energy strikes, saying that “all parties agreed to implement the agreements … on a complete ban on attacks on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine and Russia.”
Umerov also called for “additional technical consultations” as soon as possible to agree on “all the details and technical aspects of the implementation, monitoring and control of the arrangements.”
