Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a three-day ceasefire in May in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, to honor the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union and its allies’ World War Two victory, reports RTE.
The Kremlin stated that the 72-hour ceasefire will take place for three days surrounding 9 May, a date when Putin will welcome global leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, for grand celebrations commemorating the triumph over Nazi Germany.
“All military actions are suspended for this period. Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example,” it said in a statement, reports RTE.
“In the event of violations by the Ukrainian side, Russia’s armed forces will give an adequate and effective response,| reports RTE.
Kyiv did not immediately comment on the unilateral truce announcement — the second made by Mr Putin recently, following a 30-hour Easter ceasefire that both sides claimed the other had repeatedly violated.
Against the backdrop of growing frustration from the United States, both ceasefire announcements appeared to be Putin’s way of signaling to US President Donald Trump that Russia remains interested in reaching peace, reports RTE.
Ukraine and its European partners remain skeptical, dismissing US proposals they view as biased toward Russia.
This latest announcement followed Mr Trump’s criticism of Mr Putin over a deadly Russian strike on Kyiv last week and his weekend expression of concern that Putin was “just tapping me along.” Washington has continued to warn it may abandon peace efforts without genuine progress.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who met Mr Trump briefly at Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome on Saturday, said Kyiv would be ready for talks once a ceasefire actually halts fighting, reports RTE.
Mr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, emphasized that Russia’s ongoing attacks contradicted its statements about seeking peace.
“Russia is not ceasing fire at the front and is attacking Ukraine with Shaheds right now,” Mr Yermak wrote on Telegram before the ceasefire announcement, referring to Iranian-made drones widely used by Russian forces, reports RTE.
“All the Russians’ statements about peace without ceasing fire are just plain lies.”
The Kremlin statement read: “The Russian side once again declares its readiness for peace talks without preconditions, aimed at eliminating the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis, and constructive interaction with international partners.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier told journalists that Ukraine needed to initiate direct talks, noting that Kyiv currently has a “legal ban” on negotiations with Mr Putin, reports RTE.
He referred to a 2022 decree where Mr Zelensky ruled out negotiations, following Russia’s annexation claims over four Ukrainian regions — an action condemned as illegal by most United Nations member states.
Ukraine accuses Russia of using talks to buy time and capture more territory and continues to call for stronger international pressure to end Russia’s aggression, reports RTE.
Russia, on the other hand, accuses Ukraine of refusing any concessions and seeking a ceasefire solely on its own terms.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump said he believed Mr Zelensky might be willing to cede Crimea in exchange for a ceasefire deal, as truce negotiations entered what Washington described as a “critical” phase, reports RTE.
Mr Trump, who previously claimed he could stop the war within a single day after taking office in January, has launched diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Over the weekend, he cast doubt on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin truly wanted peace, amid a war that has devastated large parts of eastern Ukraine and caused tens of thousands of deaths.
Russia carried out drone and missile strikes last night, killing four civilians and injuring more than a dozen across eastern Ukraine, reports RTE.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal,” Mr Trump said last night when asked what he expects from Mr Putin, reports RTE.
“We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it,” Mr Trump added, hinting at a US-backed peace plan, reports RTE.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized the importance of the coming week.
“We’re close, but we’re not close enough” to a deal to end the war, Mr Rubio said on NBC. I think this is going to be a very critical week,” reports RTE.
The White House warned that without rapid progress, the US might withdraw from its role as a peace broker.
Mr Trump suggested he would allow “two weeks” for the process to bear fruit.
While the US has not shared details of its proposal, it has hinted at freezing the current frontlines and accepting Russian control over Crimea to achieve peace, reports RTE.
Despite Ukrainian leaders’ repeated denials, Mr Trump said he believed Mr Zelensky was willing to relinquish Crimea.
“Oh, I think so,” said Mr Trump in response to a question on whether he thought Mr Zelensky was ready to “give up” the Black Sea peninsula, reports RTE.
Since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia claims to have annexed four eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, though it does not control all of them militarily.
Currently, Russia controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.
Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Ukraine should not be pressured into accepting all the territorial concessions reportedly outlined in the US proposal, reports RTE.
“Ukraine has, of course, known for some time that a sustainable, credible ceasefire or peace agreement may involve territorial concessions,” he told broadcaster ARD.
“But these will certainly not go… as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president,” Mr Pistorius said, reports RTE.
Yesterday, Mr Rubio had a phone conversation with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to Moscow’s foreign ministry.
The ministry stated that the two “emphasised the importance of consolidating the emerging prerequisites for starting negotiations in order to agree on a reliable path to long-term sustainable peace,” reports RTE.
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