Russia and Ukraine agree to stop fighting in the Black Sea

The White House says it has secured an agreement with Russia and Ukraine on the Black Sea, to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the military use of commercial vessels.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

After three days of negotiations in Saudi Arabia, the White House announced new progress toward its goal of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

In the latest, both have tentatively agreed to stop fighting in the Black Sea and allow free commercial shipping through that region to resume.

MARTIN: Joining us to fill in the details is NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Charles, welcome.

CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Morning, Michel.

MARTIN: So what does this deal do, at least according to the White House?

MAYNES: Well, I think it's important to look at it in a broader context. You know, Trump returned to office in January, saying he wanted an end to the war in Ukraine. His efforts to craft a full ceasefire didn't work out, so the White House has really shifted tactics. It's pursuing smaller limited ceasefires that work towards a wider peace. So last week, it was that deal to end attacks on energy infrastructure, at least in theory - hasn't quite held. And now the latest deal involves maritime passage through the Black Sea. Kyiv and Moscow have both promised to ensure safe passage to commercial vessels. The catch, and it's a big one, is it's not clear when the partial ceasefire would begin or if conditions to put the deal in place could be met.

MARTIN: What would those conditions be?

MAYNES: Well, they mostly come from the Russian side. The Kremlin issued a statement in which it made clear the deal would only come into force once the U.S. had lifted all sorts of sanctions-related entanglements to Russian maritime trade that were put in place because of Russia's invasion of its neighbor - things like plugging Russia's state agricultural bank back into the international payment system, giving access to Russian sea vessels in foreign ports, even just solving problems like getting Russian ships insured to haul cargo around the world. So, you know, in essence, Moscow is demanding the U.S. resolve all sorts of complaints that had doomed an earlier United Nations-brokered deal that tried to get Russian and Ukrainian grain and fertilizer out to world markets in the first year of the war. That's when there were real concerns about global food shortages.

MARTIN: So look, if I hear you correctly, we're talking sanctions relief for Russia, and that would be a huge concession, wouldn't it?

MAYNES: It is. But even for Trump, speaking yesterday, he sounded somewhat unsure the U.S. could meet all the Russian demands.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They will be looking at them, and we're thinking about all of them right now. There are about five or six conditions.

MAYNES: You know, the truth here is that the U.S. can't really remove all these barriers without European allies agreeing to do much the same, and Europe remains far more skeptical of Moscow and supportive of Kyiv. And meanwhile, Ukraine, you know, it's objected to what it sees as unilateral sanctions relief for Russia by the U.S. You know, perhaps with that in mind, the White House also addressed Ukrainian demands, saying it would work towards the return of Ukrainian children and prisoners of war held by Russia. That's something that Kyiv has been asking Trump to press Moscow on, really, ever since he came into office, vowing to end the war.

MARTIN: But meanwhile, the fighting does go on in Ukraine.

MAYNES: You know, it does. Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused one another of violating that energy infrastructure ceasefire, just as both have continued attacks on targets outside of that agreement. And because of all that, there's a lot of skepticism on both sides this latest ceasefire deal will work. In fact, sometimes it feels like the Trump administration is its own best cheerleader in this process - optimistic, whatever the truth on the ground.

MARTIN: That is NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Charles, thank you.

MAYNES: Thank you.

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