US intermediate agreements to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and suspend attacks on Russian and Ukraine energy infrastructures
The United States came to separate agreements on Tuesday (25) with Ukraine and Russia to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and implement a ban on attacks by these two countries to each other’s energy facilities. According to Reuters, the agreements, if implemented, would represent the clearest progress so far toward a broader ceasefire than Washington sees as a step towards peace negotiations to end Russia’s three-year war against Ukraine.
Both countries said they will depend on Washington to enforce the agreements.
“If the Russians violate this, then I have a direct question to President Trump. If they violate, here’s the evidence – we ask for sanctions, we ask for weapons, etc.,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said to reporters at a press conference in Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We need clear guarantees. And given the sad history of agreements with Kyiv only, guarantees can only be the result of a Washington order for Zelenskiy and his team to do one thing and not another.”
The agreements, achieved in Saudi Arabia, follow conversations started by US President Donald Trump, who promised to quickly end the war and changed the position of Washington with firm support to Kyiv for a more sympathetic posture to Moscow.
In the agreement with Moscow, Washington has promised to help restore Russian access to markets for their agricultural exports and fertilizers. Kremlin said this would require the suspension of some sanctions.
Negotiations followed separate telephone calls last week between Trump and the two presidents, Zelenskiy and Vladimir Putin. Putin rejected Trump’s proposal to a 30-day total ceasefire, which Ukraine had previously supported.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umarov said Kyiv will consider any movement of Russian military vessels outside the east of the Black Sea as a violation and a threat, in which case Ukraine will have the full right to self -defense.
Pause in the attacks on energy facilities
Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid with missiles and drones throughout the war, arguing that civil energy infrastructure is a legitimate target because it helps in Ukraine’s military capacity.
More recently, Ukraine has launched long -range attacks against Russian oil and gas targets, which, according to her, provide fuel for Russian troops and income to finance their war efforts.
At the beginning of the war, Russia actually imposed a naval blockade on Ukraine, one of the largest grain exporters in the world, which threatened to make a global food crisis worse.
But maritime battles have only been a comparatively small part of the war since 2023, when Russia withdrew its east black naval forces after a series of successful Ukrainian attacks.
Kyiv was able to reopen his ports and resume exports at levels near the war, despite the collapse of a previous UN -mediated black sea transport agreement.
Trump is pressing both sides to quickly end the war, a goal he promised to reach when he ran for president last year.
At the same time, he is seeking rapid rapprochement with Russia that Washington and Moscow say they can lead to profitable business opportunities.
Ukraine and its European allies fear that Trump can close a hurry with Putin that compromises its safety and give in to Russian demands, including Kyiv’s withdrawal of its aspirations to NATO and the delivery of four entire regions claimed by Russia as its own. Ukraine rejected this as equivalent to a surrender.
With information from Reuters*
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2025/03/25/russia-e-ucrania-selam-tregua-maritima-e-energetica/
