US, Ukraine agree to ensure safe navigation in Black Sea

WASHINGTON

The US and Ukraine agreed to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea, the White House said Tuesday.

"The United States and Ukraine have agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea," it said in a statement.

The statement came after delegations from the US and Ukraine held talks in Saudi Arabia on March 23 - 25.

Both countries agreed that the US remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, release of civilian detainees and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.

The US and Ukraine will continue working toward achieving a "durable and lasting" peace, it said.

They also agreed to develop measures for implementing US President Donald Trump’s and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s, agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine, according to the White House.

"The United States and Ukraine welcome the good offices of third countries with a view toward supporting the implementation of the energy and maritime agreements," it added.

Reiterating that the killing on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict must stop, the White House said the US will continue facilitating negotiations to achieve a peaceful resolution in line with agreements in Riyadh.

Separately, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who was part of Kyiv's delegation, confirmed the aforementioned points of the agreement in a statement on Facebook.

He noted, however, that Kyiv will consider the movement of Russian military vessels in the eastern part of the Black Sea as a violation of the deal and a "threat to the national security of Ukraine."

"In this case Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defense," Umerov said, adding that it is crucial to hold additional technical consultations as soon as possible to agree on the remaining nuances of the deal to effectively implement it.