Turkey proposes deal to end Black Sea shipping attacks
A diplomatic source cited by AFP says Ankara has put forward a plan to Russia and Ukraine to stop the attacks.
Published
Turkey has proposed a deal to Russia and Ukraine aimed at ending attacks on Black Sea shipping, a diplomatic source told AFP. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv has responded publicly to the proposal, and its terms have not been made public.
The proposal comes as Western pressure on Russia builds. The House passed a Russia sanctions bill by 262 votes to 159 and sent it to Donald Trump's desk. The Kremlin said the new sanctions will hamper efforts to reach peace in Ukraine. Poland deployed aircraft after Russian strikes on Ukraine, the same day the sanctions bill was sent to Trump.
Signals over a possible energy truce remain mixed. Trump said Ukraine had agreed to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, only for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to say hours later that Ukraine had struck Russia's Yaroslavl refinery. Russia has extended its diesel export ban to October as both sides continue to trade conflicting signals on energy targets.
Turkey's attempt at mediation arrives amid sustained Russian strikes on shipping and escalating Western sanctions, but it offers no new mechanism to enforce compliance or address the core territorial dispute between the two sides. For markets, the proposal stays neutral unless either Russia or Ukraine signals a willingness to compromise on enforcement or substantive terms, something the recent record on both sanctions and energy strikes does not show.