There is a “potential” agreement on the table in ceasefire talks between the U.S., Ukraine and Russia on the Black Sea, U.S. President Donald Trump‘s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Sunday.
Why It Matters
Witkoff, one of the senior Trump officials tasked with brokering a deal between Kyiv and Moscow to end more than three years of war, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in the Russian capital.
The U.S. and Ukraine both agreed to White House-proposed terms for a 30-day ceasefire last week. The U.S., Ukraine and global leaders who have supported Ukraine then said the ball was firmly in Russia’s court.
Putin said on Thursday he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire, but added that a deal needed to “remove the root causes” of the war. It isn’t clear what the Kremlin leader was referring to.
Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, said Putin’s response was “highly predictable and manipulative,” and that Russia was “preparing to reject” a ceasefire.
What to Know
Witkoff told CBS on Sunday there are “regions that we all know the Russians are focused on,” adding that talks must address nuclear reactors and “access to ports.”
“There’s the Black Sea potential agreement,” he said. Witkoff did not elaborate further on what was being discussed around the Black Sea.
The Black Sea has been a key battleground area for Russia and Ukraine throughout the war. Ukraine’s navy does not have any large warships, but has worked alongside the other branches of Kyiv’s military and security agencies to menace Russia’s Black Sea Fleet based close to Ukraine’s southern coastline.
The Russian naval fleet had been based in Sevastopol, a city along the southern edge of the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and Kyiv has vowed to reclaim.
But Kyiv succeeded in forcing the Black Sea Fleet to largely shift away from Sevastopol, further east in the Black Sea. Moscow has moved many of its vessels toward its Novorossiysk base, and satellite imagery indicates Russia is establishing another Black Sea base in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.
A Turkey-backed and United Nations-brokered deal, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, had been in place to allow Ukrainian grain exports to leave the Black Sea area. This deal expired in summer 2023.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s port infrastructure along the Black Sea.
Witkoff said in a separate interview with CNN on Sunday that he had spent between three and four hours meeting with Putin in Moscow, and described the encounter as “positive.” The gap between Russia and Ukraine’s positions has “narrowed,” Witkoff said.
Trump, speaking to the media on Air Force One on Sunday, said he would be speaking with Putin on Tuesday. The Republican president said land and power plants would be on the agenda, as will “dividing up certain assets.”
“A lot of work’s been done over the weekend,” Trump said.
Ukraine agreed to U.S.-outlined conditions for a full ceasefire with Russia that would last 30 days, following talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Tuesday. After the meeting, the U.S. lifted the ban on all American military aid and U.S.-derived intelligence sharing it had imposed on Ukraine ahead of the talks, and breathed fresh life into U.S.-Ukrainian negotiations for the bilateral mineral deal.
Since Kyiv consented to the terms, fighting has blazed on along the hundreds of miles of frontlines in eastern Ukraine, and in Russia’s western Kursk region. Ukraine launched an incursion into Kursk in August 2024, and held onto a chunk of the territory it claimed in its initial offensive.
Russia said it had recaptured Sudzha, the largest town in Kursk remaining under Ukrainian control, last week, while Ukrainian officials have attempted to present an appearance of calm.
Trump said on Friday that “thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military,” appearing to reference Kursk. Putin had said Russian troops had “isolated” Ukrainian forces in Kursk, which Ukraine denied. The U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Saturday that it had not seen evidence that Russian forces had encircled Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk.
Kursk is also a major consideration in the peace talks, Witkoff said.
What People Are Saying
Witkoff said that “everybody is committed, all stakeholders, including the Europeans, to doing everything we need to do to get to a successful resolution here.”
What Happens Next
It is not yet clear whether Putin will agree to the U.S. 30-day ceasefire proposal, and what will come from Trump’s anticipated meeting with the Kremlin leader on Tuesday.
The post Black Sea Agreement on Table in Ukraine Peace Talks: Witkoff appeared first on Newsweek.
