Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a Black Sea ceasefire deal.
The agreement came after Ukraine and US delegations held talks in Saudi Arabia today.
But what is the Black Sea deal – and is it a full ceasefire?
Follow live: Black Sea ceasefire deal reached after Saudi talks
What is the Black Sea deal?
It’s a UN-backed deal that allows Ukraine to export grain from its ports without being attacked, known as the Black Sea grain initiative.
The deal was negotiated in July 2022 between Turkey, the UN and Russia as a way of ensuring that Ukraine, one of the breadbaskets of the world, could keep exporting grain from its southern ports.
The deal also allowed for greater Russian agricultural exports, but Moscow pulled out of the initiative in July 2023 after accusing the West of reneging on this part of the agreement.
What has happened now?
The US and Ukrainian officials have said the deal is back on, saying the agreement will ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.
The announcement comes as the US continues general peace talks with Russia and Ukraine.
The countries have also agreed to work together on measures banning strikes on energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine.
Significantly, Washington will also help to restore Russia’s access to global markets for agricultural and fertiliser exports, the White House added. Where this leaves Western sanctions against Russia is unclear at this stage.
With Ukraine, the US said it has agreed it will remain committed to returning forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.
Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov confirmed the agreement, but added that Kyiv maintains any movement by Russian military vessels outside of eastern part of the Black Sea will constitute violation of the spirit of this agreement.
“In this case Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defence,” he said.
He added: “All parties agreed to develop measures for implementing the presidents’ agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Ukraine and Russia.”
How significant is this?
The Black Sea deal’s reintroduction won’t do much to end the war, according to Sky News’ security analyst Michael Clarke.
He says Russia will be quite happy dragging the US through peace talks without making any meaningful concessions.
The deal is one the US “can boast about” – without it changing much on the ground for Ukraine, he says.
“The Russians will be quite happy about that because they’ll just keep going down more and more rabbit holes and they’ll present little gains for the US,” he explains.
“But they won’t address the central issue,” he says.
No real deal can be agreed unless Donald Trump starts putting meaningful pressure on Vladimir Putin, he says.
“Unless the Americans are prepared to pressure Russia as opposed to just keeping offering them more advantages, the war will just go on.”
He also says Mr Trump will stay interested until it “gets difficult”, at which point he’ll “just go onto something else”.
“He’s a disrupter, but when disruption becomes hard to follow through, he goes on to the next topic, and I think that’s what will happen.”
What happened the last time Ukraine and Russia had a ceasefire agreement?
Last week, Mr Putin agreed to an immediate 30-day pause in strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
However, within 24 hours Ukraine and Russia accused the other of breaking the pledge.
