MONITORING (SW) – The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks at sea and against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.
While it was not clear when or how the Black Sea maritime security deals would start, the agreements are the first formal commitments by the two warring sides since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who is pushing for an end to the war in Ukraine and a rapid rapprochement with Moscow that has alarmed Kyiv and European countries.
The U.S. agreement with Russia goes further than the agreement with Ukraine, with Washington committing to help seek the lifting of international sanctions on Russian agriculture and fertilizer exports, long a Russian demand.
Shortly after the U.S. announcements, the Kremlin said the Black Sea agreements would not come into effect unless links between some Russian banks and the international financial system were restored.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his understanding was that the truce agreements did not require sanctions relief to come into force and would take effect immediately, calling the Kremlin’s statement an attempt to “manipulate” the deals.
“They are already trying to distort agreements and, in fact, deceive both our intermediaries and the entire world,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
Kyiv and Moscow both said they would rely on Washington to enforce the deals, while expressing scepticism that the other side would abide by them.
“We will need clear guarantees,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “And given the sad experience of agreements with just 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.”
Zelensky said if Russia violated them he would ask Trump to impose additional sanctions on Moscow and provide more weapons for Ukraine.
“We have no faith in the Russians, but we will be constructive,” he said.
In the hours following the announcements, both Russia and Ukraine accused each other of launching drone attacks, but there were no immediate reports of hits on Black Sea or energy targets.
Meanwhile Trump, in an interview with Newsmax, acknowledged that Russia could be trying to delay ending the war.
“I think that Russia wants to see an end to it, but it could be they’re dragging their feet. I’ve done it over the years,” he said.
