Ukraine and Russia Reach Major Agreement After Meetings with Trump Administration

The White House announced on Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine had reached an agreement on a ceasefire in the Black Sea and a commitment to refrain from targeting each other's energy infrastructure.

“If implemented, the agreements could mark a major step toward a wider deal to end the three-year-long war,” NBC News reported.

Both Russia and Ukraine depend on Black Sea ports for global trade.

The White House issued two separate statements outlining the agreements between the two nations.

One statement, which covered discussions with Russian officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, stated that President Donald Trump’s administration pledged, “The United States 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.”

Additionally, it emphasized, “The United States and Russia agreed to develop measures for implementing President Trump’s and President [Vladimir] Putin’s agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine.”

A second statement, which focused on negotiations with Ukrainian officials in Riyadh, affirmed, “The United States and Ukraine agreed that the United States remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.”

Both statements included the assertion, “The United States reiterated to both sides 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.”

NBC highlighted, “Neither statement mentioned security guarantees for Ukraine or efforts to regain land seized by Russia, which currently holds around 20 percent of its smaller neighbor’s territory.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Reuters that Moscow would only proceed with the Black Sea deal if President Trump directly instructed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to abide by it.

“We will need clear guarantees. And given the sad experience of agreements with just Kyiv, 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,” he stated.

Meanwhile, USA Today reported that during a press conference in Kyiv, Zelenskyy addressed reporters, saying, “If the Russians violate this, then I have a direct question for President Trump. If they violate, here is the evidence — we ask for sanctions, we ask for weapons, etc.”

Zelenskyy characterized the agreement as a preliminary step toward the possibility of a broader ceasefire.