During the talks, which concluded on March 25 in Saudi Arabia, Russia and Ukraine separately agreed to avoid military strikes on ships in the Black Sea, the White House said.

The two countries have also agreed to prevent the use of commercial ships for military purposes in the Black Sea, the Kiev Independent reported.

Washington also pledged to help restore Russia's access to the global market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, reduce the cost of marine insurance and improve access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.

Delegates from Moscow and Washington held a 12-hour meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on March 24 to discuss options for a ceasefire in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The talks reportedly focused mainly on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea.

Ukrainian officials were briefed on the results of the Russian-US talks before they were made public, an undisclosed source told BBC News.

U.S. President Donald Trump also earlier revealed that the talks in Riyadh concerned demarcation lines and ownership of a Ukrainian power plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in his phone call with Trump last week.

The US delegation was led by Andrew Pick, a senior director at the US National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official, an undisclosed source told Reuters.

The Russian delegation included Grigory Karasin, chairman of the Federation Council's international affairs committee, and Sergei Beseda, an adviser to Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov.

The talks were the latest step in Trump's attempt to reach a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Washington's offer of a 30-day ceasefire during talks with Trump on March 18, but offered to immediately impose a partial cessation of attacks in the energy sector. | BGNES