Washington claimed to have reached an agreement with the warring parties to put an end to attacks on energy facilities and to take action to guarantee ships can safely navigate the Black Sea.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is prepared to move forward with a truce that forbids attacks on energy infrastructure, in accordance with an agreement mediated by the United States after three days of talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials in the Saudi capital.
In a video speech late Tuesday, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and American negotiators had reached an agreement “that a ceasefire for energy infrastructure can start today.” However, he cautioned that Moscow would face “strong retaliation” if it attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The remarks highlighted the shaky accords that emerged from the three days of separate U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Ukrainian negotiations in Riyadh. Washington claimed to have reached an agreement with the warring parties to put an end to attacks on energy facilities and to take action to guarantee ships can safely navigate the Black Sea.
These discussions were a part of a larger attempt to reach a limited, 30-day truce, which Moscow and Kyiv agreed upon in theory last week but which hasn’t yet been implemented since both sides continue to target one another with rockets and drones.
A complete peace agreement to end the three-year conflict still appeared far off, even though Zelenskyy on Tuesday hailed the United States for its efforts to reach an agreement.
The sides “agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea,” according to separate comments released by the White House on Tuesday.
The potential agreement’s specifics were not disclosed, but it seemed to be another effort to guarantee safe navigation in the Black Sea following a 2022 treaty mediated by the United Nations and Turkey that Russia blocked the following year.
The Kremlin cautioned that a possible Black Sea agreement could only be carried out once sanctions against the Russian Agricultural Bank and other financial institutions engaged in the trade of food and fertilizer are removed and their access to the SWIFT system of international payments is guaranteed, following the White House’s statement on Tuesday.
In response to those requests, Zelenskyy said Tuesday night that Moscow was “manipulating, twisting agreements, and lying” about the terms of the deal.
“The White House has released very clear statements, and everyone can see what is stated there,” Zelenskyy added. “And there’s something the Kremlin is lying about once more: that the Black Sea ceasefire is allegedly dependent on the sanctions issue.”
The White House stated Tuesday that the U.S. “will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions,” seemingly in response to Moscow’s demands.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the chairman of the local administration, posted on Telegram that Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih was the target of the “most massive kamikaze drone attack since the beginning of the war” on Tuesday night.
According to Vikul, despite the fact that no one was killed or hurt, a lot of civilian infrastructure was targeted, including a fire station, warehouses, an industrial enterprise, and an administration building. He claimed that several fires were started all throughout the city.
“Thank God, everyone is still alive. It really is a miracle. “The damage is substantial,” Vilkul remarked.
According to local officials, the Sumy, Cherkasy, and Kirovohrad regions also saw strikes on civilian infrastructure. No injuries were reported at this time.
Ukraine’s air force reported Wednesday morning that Russian forces fired 117 Shahed and decoy drones overnight, with 56 drones destroyed and 48 more jammed by the defence forces.
