Rubio says momentum growing for limited Black Sea ceasefire to protect grain and energy shipments
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday there is growing international interest in a limited Black Sea ceasefire to keep Russian and Ukrainian grain and energy shipments moving, as Turkiye and Ukraine agreed to work on a new grain corridor through the waterway.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that there is growing international interest in a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea to ensure that energy and grain shipments by Russia and Ukraine can move without attack, even as the wider war grinds on into its fifth year. He was speaking at a news conference in Atlanta after a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20, where Russia's war in Ukraine dominated the discussions.
“This is threatening the world for food security and some energy security as well,” Rubio told reporters, according to Reuters. “We'd like to achieve it. It doesn't solve the war, but at least it solves a unique aspect of it.” The proposal under discussion would halt attacks on ships carrying grain and, in some cases, energy through the Black Sea, rather than attempting a full ceasefire on land.
Rubio said the United States is reviewing proposals put forward by Turkiye and India aimed at getting grain shipments moving again. The two countries have been among the most active in pushing for a protected corridor, in part because their own shipping and food supplies are directly affected by attacks on Black Sea traffic.
The idea is not new, but it gained fresh impetus in Atlanta. Canada's Foreign Minister Anita Anand told Reuters she had discussed a limited Black Sea ceasefire with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and her Indian counterpart, and had also raised a moratorium on attacks against Ukraine's electrical infrastructure ahead of winter. Canada, she said, has been engaged in specific talks on a Black Sea arrangement since the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Anand pointed to the practical stakes for countries far from the fighting. India and Egypt, she noted, are heavily affected because their ships and sailors need safe passage through waters where civilian vessels have repeatedly come under attack. Securing food supply chains, and protecting Ukraine's power grid before the coldest months, were described as the twin priorities of the push.
On the same day, a parallel track advanced in Istanbul, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two leaders agreed to work on a new Black Sea grain corridor, and Erdogan urged both Russia and Ukraine to stop targeting civilian ships, saying such attacks were unacceptable whoever carried them out.
“Today, I reached an agreement with President Erdogan to work on the Black Sea grain corridor,” Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference, according to Al Jazeera. The agreement adds a concrete Turkish-Ukrainian track to the diplomatic effort Rubio described in Atlanta, and draws on Turkiye's long-standing role as a mediator on Black Sea shipping.
Kyiv's position, as set out by Sybiha in early October, is that Ukraine has received four proposals, from Turkiye, Egypt, India and the United States, and would accept an energy and Black Sea ceasefire only as a combined package. That condition matters, because it links the safety of grain ships to a halt in strikes on energy infrastructure, a pairing Ukraine sees as essential as winter approaches.
Russia, however, has so far rejected the idea of a limited truce. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that piecemeal arrangements cannot bring a peaceful settlement closer, a position that underlines how far the two sides remain from even a narrow deal. Rubio acknowledged the difficulty, saying a broader negotiated settlement was not on the immediate horizon even as Washington pressed for partial steps.
The Black Sea debate unfolded against a fractious G20 meeting. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took part over the objections of European and Canadian leaders, and the ministers ended their talks without a joint communique, with a chairman's statement from Rubio to summarise the discussions instead. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski used the gathering to urge a rapid Black Sea truce so that grain reaches the countries that need it.
What happens next will depend on whether the diplomatic interest Rubio described hardens into a workable arrangement. The proposals from Turkiye and India are still under review in Washington, the Turkish-Ukrainian grain corridor plan has yet to be tested at sea, and Moscow's opposition to a partial deal remains the largest obstacle. For now, the significance of Saturday's statements is that a limited Black Sea ceasefire has moved from a background idea to an active item on the agenda of the world's largest economies, with food security as its stated purpose.
More in News
NewsAt least four Palestinians killed in Gaza as Israeli attacks continue despite year-old ceasefire
NewsOleshky evacuees reunite with families at Ukrainian border after years apart, under rare local truce
News