Gavin Grey: Europe Correspondent on the Black Sea ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine moving ahead

Published Mar 25, 2025, 9:03 PM

Caveats to the new Russia-Ukraine Black Sea ceasefire deal are causing uncertainty. 

The United States says both countries have agreed to stop military strikes in the Black Sea and develop measures to implement a ban on energy facility strikes.  

But Newstalk ZB European Correspondent Gavin Grey told Andrew Dickens Ukraine's warned any Russian naval movement would be a violation. 

He says in return, Russia's demanding sanctions on banks, insurers, and food exporters must be lifted first.  

Sky News reports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the maritime ceasefire is effective immediately, and no one can accuse them not moving towards peace after this. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

To the UK we go and Gevin Gray joins us hell. Gavin hither Okay, we actually have some movements in the Ukraine Russian conflict, a ceasefire in the Black Sea.

Yes, so we think there andrew Black Sea now should be safe passage for commercial shipping. As the American officials meeting with Ukraine and Russian representatives has broken up within the last hour. Now, the Ukraine is agreeing to stop any military force in the Black Sea, but it says any movement of the Russian naval vessels based of course in Crimea and in Russia would be a breaking of and a violation of this agreement. In return, we understand Russia is demanding that the sanctions currently in place on the banks, the insurers, the food exporters must be lifted first. They're demanding that before the Black Sea ceasefire, as it were. They also want to reconnect with SWIFT, that's the network that facilitates secure banking and financial masses between banks. Now Zelenski. President Zelenski says if Russia violate's the treaty, then he wants sanctions reimposed and more weapons. We're expecting to find out more details later, but Andrew also with this has of course been revelations about this chat between JD Vans, the numb deputy to Donald Trump, and Pete Hesket, the Defense Secretary, with Jdvans talking about freedom of navigation and around that bombing of the Hooties with the quote just hate bailing out Europe again, to which the Defense Secretary, Pete Hesker said, I fully share your loading of European free loading. It's pathetic. No news yet on a response from European leaders about that.

All right, Now, here's the thing. I don't even knew that the Isle of Man had its own government and they've been voting on the right to choose, the right to choose to win their own lives legislation. It's been approved by the Parliament. It can now go to a scenes. So tell us about this story.

Yes, So this is a large island really off Liverpool, between central Mainland UK and Northern Ireland, and the Isle of Man has its own legislative set of parliament, but it falls within the UK Parliament, but it does have its own rules and regulations and its own ability to make its own laws. And they are now potentially anyway going to be the first place in the United Kingdom which allows assisted dying. Now the whole process will possibly be implemented within the next year or so. The Parliament in the Isle of Man needs to give its blessing first and that will mean it will become the first place within the British Isles to allow right to die, but that has to be for people who have a prognosis left to live of twelve months or fewer. It is only available to those aged over eighteen, and in a bid to prevent what you might call assisted dying tourism, where somebody from the mainland who can't undergo assisted dying goes to the arts a man for assisted time, there is a minimum residency period. All this comes as Whitehall, the main government for the UK, slightly set a tongue tied about how it's going to approach this new law, with the latest theory that even if it gets the go ahead, it could take up to four years to implement it, something the Isle of Man seems capable of doing much faster.

Kevin Gray from the UK I thank yous.

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