Russia and Ukraine agree to Black Sea ceasefire, US says – Europe live

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Russia says it has agreed to ensure safe navigation in Black Sea - but has demands

Russia said it would commit to a Black Sea truce once US sanctions are lifted on key financial institutions supporting its food exports.

In a readout on the Russia–US talks posted by the Kremlin, Moscow said it had agreed to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea, but only “after the following conditions are met,” before listing a series of terms, including the lifting of US sanctions on the Russian Agricultural Bank and other banks involved in food trade.

“The United States will assist in restoring Russian agricultural and fertilizer exports to the global market, reducing the cost of maritime insurance, and expanding access to ports and payment systems to conduct such transaction,” Moscow said.

In its own readout of the talks, the US suggested it was planning to ease some sanctions on Russia’s food sector, stating that “the United States will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports.”

Moscow also said it wanted port service restrictions and sanctions on Russian-flagged vessels involved in the trade of food products—including seafood—and fertilizers to be lifted.

Separately, Moscow said the two sides had also agreed to develop measures to halt strikes on Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities for a period of 30 days, which the Kremlin said started on 18 March, “with the possibility of extension or withdrawal if either party fails to comply”.

Downing Street said it is “hopeful of the progress” after the announcement Ukraine and Russia had agreed to a deal on the Black Sea.

But the British government was unclear whether it would follow American efforts to ease some sanctions on Russia as part of the deal agreed on Tuesday, PA reported.

Immediately following news of the agreement, a No 10 spokesperson said: “Our position at the moment is that we are obviously hopeful of the progress.

“We are following developments closely.”

Human rights campaigner Sir Bill Browder warned against easing sanctions on Russia following the announcement of a ceasefire in the Black Sea.

He told the PA news agency: “This is missing the point completely.

“Russia can continue to pound civilian targets like hospitals, schools and apartment buildings and I’m sure they will.

“And by getting this concession, it saves Russia’s oil refineries which are one of the key engines of funding for their war.

“Furthermore, releasing Russia from sanctions is hardly an appropriate response to a country which has killed tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians and done a trillion dollars of damage.

“There’s absolutely nothing to celebrate here.”

Russia confirms that Moscow has agreed to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Russia and the United States have also agreed to develop measures to halt strikes on Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities for a period of 30 days.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy says Black Sea and energy ceasefire effective immediately

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a truce covering the Black Sea and energy infrastructure was effective immediately on Tuesday and that he would seek more weapons and sanctions on Russia from Donald Trump if Moscow broke the deals.

The United States said earlier it had made separate agreements with Kyiv and Moscow to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and to implement a ban on strikes against energy facilities in the two countries.

“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,” Zelenskiy told reporters at a news conference in Kyiv.

That’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, but my colleague Tom Ambrose is here to guide you through the evening with more reactions from Ukraine, US, Russia and Europe as soon as we get them.

US state secretary Marco Rubio just welcomed the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Washington DC, but the entire media coverage of their meeting lasted exactly 36 seconds as they posed for a picture in front of their national flags.

They did not respond to questions from reporters.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio poses for a photograph with the Foreign Relations Ministers of Lithuania – Kstutis Budrys, Estonia – Margus Tsahkna, and Latvia – Baiba Braze at the Benjamin Franklin room at the US State Department before their meeting in Washington, DC. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Movement of Russian military vessels beyond Eastern Black Sea would violate sea agreement, Ukraine says

The Ukrainian readout, posted by the Ministry of Defence on its Telegram account, confirms the main agreement, but contains some additional guidance not in the original text.

The statement, released in the name of defence minister Rustem Umerov, says that “the movement of Russian military vessels beyond the Eastern Black Sea will be considered a violation of the spirit of this agreement.”

It added it will also “be considered a violation of the obligations to ensure freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and a threat to the national security of Ukraine.”

“In such case, Ukraine will have the full right to exercise the right to self-defence,” it noted.

Curiously, it also goes further than the US statement on the energy strikes, saying that “all parties agreed to implement the agreements … on a complete ban on attacks on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine and Russia.”

The statement also added that “for the effective implementation of the agreements, it is important to hold additional technical consultations as soon as possible to agree on all the details and technical aspects of the implementation, monitoring and control of the agreements.”

Let’s see what comes out of Russia.

Two very similar readouts show every word matters - snap analysis

It’s worth noting that while we technically got two separate statements on US talks with Ukraine and Russia, they are very, very similar.

In fact, the key parts on ceasefire at sea and agreement “to develop measures for implementing” the ban on energy infrastructure strikes are literally the same to avoid any confusion in interpreting what has been agreed by the sides.

After US president Donald Trump spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier this month, the two sides issued completely different readouts, leading to confusion over the extent of the ban on strikes on infrastructure and whether it only covered energy, or also critical civilian infrastructure.

This time we get two very similar texts, only marginally customised to cover individual discussions: with Russia, on restoring its access to agricultural and fertiliser exports; with Ukraine on returning prisoners of war, civilian detainees, and forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.

Let’s see what details come out in further briefings we are surely going to get from the other sides of the agreement: Ukraine and Russia.

US says it has agreed sea ceasefire with Russia, Ukraine to ensure 'safe navigation in Black Sea'; will 'develop measures' to stop energy strikes

The White House has just published two readouts from its talks with Russia and Ukraine, effectively announcing an agreement for a ceasefire at sea “to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.”

It also said the two countries agreed to “develop measures for implementing” the earlier agreement to stop strikes against energy infrastructure, both statements said.

Ukraine and Russia will also “continue working toward achieving a durable and lasting peace,” the statements read.

In the Ukraine-specific readout, the White House also said the US confirmed it “remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.”

The Russia-specific document noted that the US would help “restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.”

Both versions ended stressing that “the United States reiterated 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,” they said.

'No evidence' to suggest Heathrow substation fire was suspicious, UK police says

A noticeboard at a tube station at Heathrow Airport in London. Photograph: Maja Smiejkowska/PA

The UK police investigating the fire of the electricity substation in Hayes that disrupted the operations of Heathrow airport and European air space last Friday have confirmed it found “no evidence to suggest that the incident was suspicious in nature.”

It said it was “no longer treating this as a potentially criminal matter,” supporting other partners as they look into what caused the fire.

“Should any relevant new information or evidence come to light it will be looked at and considered as appropriate,” they said.

Fury in Denmark over US senator's comments Greenlanders are 'all in' on US plans

Republican US senator Tommy Tuberville claimed in an interview with Fox Business earlier that Greenlanders are “all in on it,” referring to US plans to take control over the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

His comments sparked a furious reaction from Danish diplomats and lawmakers, adding fuel to the growing frustration with what they see as the US interference in Danish and Greenlandic politics.

Danish ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen told Tuberville in a social media post that he “simply got this wrong.”

“You have to revisit your facts on Greenland, including what the people want.

It is not respectful to send a delegation of senior officials at this time, when the Greenlandic politicians say that they do not want this visit.”

Rasmus Jarlov, outspoken chair of the defence committee in the Danish parliament, went further saying “it is very hard to deal with this.”

“The leader of Greenland viciously says no. Every single member of the Greenlandic parliament says no. They just had an election two weeks ago. No one who wants to be American was elected. Not a single one,” he said.

He added that a recent poll showed that 85% of Greenlanders are against leaving Denmark, and only 6% backed the move towards the US.

He continued:

“It is almost unanimous. Never has a NO been clearer.

Yet these [expletive] people just continue to lie and tell the American public that people in Greenland want to be part of the USA. And the American ‘journalists’ let them get away with it.

It is unbelievable.”

Earlier I brought you the latest comments from Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen, talking about the “unacceptable” pressure put by the US on Greenland with this week’s visits of vice-president JD Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, and senior US officials (11:45).

Here is a video of what she said:

UK refuses to criticise US officials and their Signal comments on Europe

On the earlier topic of US Signal group on Yemen, we've had an on-the-record reaction from the UK, with prime minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson refusing to directly criticise the two figures who were most critical of Europe, JD Vance, the vice-president, and Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary.

And the spokesperson insisted that the UK remains happy to share intelligence with the US despite the leak, which involved detailed planning for a military attack being shared inadvertently on Signal, a commercial chat app, with a journalist.

Asked if the government was satisfied that any intelligence it shared with the Trump administration would be properly handled, the spokesperson relied:

Yes. The US is our closest ally when it comes to intelligence and defence. We have a longstanding relationship on intelligence and defence cooperation … We will continue and continue to build on the very strong relationship we already have with the US.

The spokesperson would not discuss the leak in detail. But asked if the government was “100% confident” about sharing secret information with the US, the spokesperson replied: “Yes.”

For more UK reactions, you can follow my colleague Andrew Sparrow’s live blog here:

Russia ready to strike new Black Sea deal if Washington 'orders' Zelenskyy to respect it, Lavrov claims

We’re getting more lines from Russia on its talks with the US over the weekend and on Monday.

Reuters is reporting that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claimed the country was willing to strike a new agreement on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea – a possible stepping stone towards a ceasefire with Ukraine – but only if the United States ordered President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to respect it.

Each side criticised the other over the collapse in 2023 of an earlier agreement intended to ensure the safety of merchant shipping in the Black Sea after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Reuters 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,” Lavrov said in televised comments.

Reuters noted that Lavrov’s comments indicated that Russia will demand a further tightening of US pressure on Zelenskyy before it will agree to a maritime ceasefire, which Washington says would be an important step towards a more comprehensive truce.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov leaves after a press conference of Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, earlier this month. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/EPA

In his regular update last night, Zelenskyy said that “Russia remains the only actor dragging this war out, jeering at both our people and the global community,” as he called for “strong actions” to “push Russia toward peace.”

Russia sought to blame Ukraine for blocking a joint US-Russian statement on progress made in peace talks in Saudi Arabia, with senior Russian senator Vladimir Chizhov telling state TV channel Rossiya-24:

“The fact that they sat for 12 hours and apparently agreed on a joint statement, which was not adopted though because of Ukraine’s position, is very typical and symptomatic,” Reuters reported.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “there is an understanding that the contacts will continue, but there is nothing concrete at the moment.”