The United States reached separate agreements on Tuesday, March 25, with Ukraine and Russia to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and to implement a ban on attacks by the two countries on each other’s energy facilities.
The agreements, if implemented, would represent the clearest progress yet towards a wider ceasefire that Washington sees as a stepping stone towards peace talks to bring an end to Russia’s three-year-old war in Ukraine.
The White House, in a statement, confirmed that each country had agreed to guarantee safe navigation, refrain from the use of force, and prevent commercial vessels from being used for military purposes in the Black Sea.
Commenting on the development, Zelenskyy asserted that Ukraine would uphold its part of the agreement and would push for further sanctions and for Trump to provide Ukraine with weapons if Russia failed to do the same.
“If the Russians violate this, then I have a direct question for President Trump,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.
“If they violate it, here is the evidence – we ask for sanctions, we ask for weapons,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “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.”
Ukraine and Russia have been at war for over three years, with thousands of casualties recorded since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.