Ukraine and Russia have agreed to stop military strikes in the Black Sea, with Moscow demanding the US give direct orders to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to respect the move.

US officials hope that the signing of a Black Sea truce could serve as a stepping stone for a greater cease-fire deal to end the war after more than three years.

“We’ve seen the first of many steps going forward,” US envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said. “President Trump made the comment that this is going to be hard—it is when you’ve had two nations at war for over three years with this degree of death and destruction. 

After both sides failed to reach a consensus on a wider cease-fire deal with US mediators Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin will at least agree to pause fighting in the busy trade route as long as it gets guarantees from the Trump administration.

“We will need clear guarantees,” Lavrov said in televised comments. “And given the sad experience of agreements with just Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelensky and his team to do one thing and not the other.

“And it seems to me that our American partners have received this signal,” he said. “They understand that only Washington can achieve positive results in stopping terrorist attacks, stopping shelling of civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure not related to the military-industrial complex.”

The Trump White House on Tuesday said Ukraine also has agreed to the limited cease-fire deal.

Lavrov has often accused Kyiv of “terrorism” as Ukraine defends itself against the invading Russian army, with the Kremlin launching repeated attacks through the Black Sea.

After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, both sides initially agreed to a maritime cease-fire that allowed Kyiv to safely export nearly 33 million metric tons of grain — as Ukraine is one of the world’s largest suppliers of wheat.

But Moscow withdrew from the truce a year later after being hit with sanctions over its invasion, with maritime attacks continuing since then.

The new deal would open up the Black Sea for Ukraine’s grain export, as well as Russia’s profitable grain and fertilizer exports.

Zelensky has previously said he is willing to adhere to any limited cease-fire deal so long as Russia commits to it.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense noted that the movement of Russian warships outside the “eastern part of the Black Sea” would constitute a violation of the agreement and stand as a “threat to the national security of Ukraine.”

“In this case Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defenses,” the ministry said in a statement.

The two sides had previously agreed to limit their land attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure after a meeting between President Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, only for Moscow to attack Ukraine’s energy grid hours later.

Kellogg emphasized that even with this agreement, there’s still a long way to go to reach a peace deal.

“It’s not going to be easy to bring to an end, but if anyone can, it’s President Trump,” he said. 

“The President wants to see both Ukraine and Russia in talks together… We’re in uncharted territory,” Kellog said. “This is the largest conflict since World War II and ending it won’t be easy. 

“When you look at history, few wars have reached this level of international complexity.” 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was still “analyzing” the results of the latest discussions Tuesday after both Russia and the US failed to make a joint statement on the results.

With Post wires