Ukrainian Foreign Minister says Ukraine is waiting for Russia's response to Black Sea ceasefire proposals; 'not so optimistic' on progress

• Urged US Secretary of State Rubio to accelerate delivery of air-defence interceptors amid Russian attacks on energy infrastructure

Ceasefire proposals of this kind have historically moved in a two-sided sequence: initial optimism prices a de-escalation premium out of energy and European assets, which then retraces when the response from Moscow arrives late, conditional, or not at all. The distinguishing feature here is the asymmetry of the transmission channel. Any credible maritime truce flows through Black Sea freight and insurance costs for grain and energy cargoes, easing pressure on European gas benchmarks and the Brent-WTI complex, while failure to progress leaves the status quo in place, which caps rather than reverses recent moves. The parallel request for faster air-defence interceptor deliveries is the tell that Kyiv itself prices continued strikes on energy infrastructure, a pattern that has recurred through past rounds of negotiation where diplomacy and bombardment ran concurrently. The minister's own 'not so optimistic' framing fits the established sequence in which one side talks down progress ahead of the formal Russian reply, lowering the bar for a constructive surprise. The follow-ons that matter are the content and timing of Moscow's response, any shift in attack tempo against energy targets, and whether US weapon-delivery schedules accelerate, since those have tended to move European equities, the euro at the margin, and defence-sector peers.