Russia has declared a 72-hour unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine to coincide with its most sacrosanct national holiday marking the World War II defeat of Nazi Germany, Victory Day, calling on Kyiv to agree to the pause.
Ukraine was quick in its response, which came soon after the Russian proposal on Monday.
“If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, according to his ministry. He reiterated that Ukraine is ready for a “lasting, reliable, and complete ceasefire” for at least 30 full days.
“Why wait for May 8? If we can cease fire now from any date and for 30 days – so that it is real, and not just for a parade,” he said, without confirming whether Kyiv would accept the truce proposal.
Andriy Yermak, a top Ukrainian presidential official, was also dismissive later on Telegram, “The ceasefire is needed not for a parade, but for real and sustainable peace”.
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces would halt fighting from midnight on May 7-8 to midnight on May 10-11. The announcement came amid rising pressure from the United States to agree to a full ceasefire in the conflict.
Russia will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, the term it uses for its war with the Third Reich from 1942 to 1945, commonly known as World War II, on May 9.
“During this period, all hostilities will cease,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Putin made the decision on “humanitarian grounds”, it added.
The Kremlin statement called on Kyiv to join the ceasefire, but pledged that in the event of any violations by the Ukrainians, Russia’s armed forces would give an “adequate and effective response”.
Zein Basravi reporting from Kyiv for Al Jazeera, said, “Ukrainians aren’t really taking this seriously, they are responding to it rather harshly with a great deal of criticism … The response from military officers, as well as those in the field, various military spokespeople are far more critical, far more harsh, far more plainly spoken (than the government) “.
One Ukrainian officer, Basravi said, thought the ceasefire is pure insanity and honestly infuriating.
“Putin is simply trying to whitewash himself, show that the Russians are good guys. In fact, he never respected any ceasefire agreements and they don’t plan to, even during this so-called ceasefire, talking about Easter Sunday, our men continued to die, they will continue to die during this so-called ceasefire and nothing about it will bring us any closer to peace”, the officer added, according to Basravi.
US pressure
Monday’s announcement was Putin’s second surprise pause declaration in quick succession, following a 30-hour Easter truce on April 19-20, which both countries accused each other of violating.
The announcements of the Easter truce and the May pause have been made while US President Donald Trump has been signalling that he was growing impatient with Putin as he sought to oversee a peace agreement.
US proposals on ending the three-year war in Ukraine have so far ceded to Russia’s demands, calling for recognition of Moscow’s control over Crimea as well as de facto recognition of Russia’s hold on other parts of Ukraine.
However, after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, Trump adopted a more critical tone towards Russia, voicing concern that Putin was “just tapping me along”.
On Sunday, Trump told Putin to “stop shooting” and sign an agreement while also reiterating threats to ditch the role as broker, indicating he would give the process “two weeks”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the week ahead would be “critical”. “We’re close, but we’re not close enough,” he said.
However, Ukraine and its European allies have persistently warned Trump not to be taken in by Russian prevarication over a deal, while it continues to bombard Ukrainian cities.
‘Ball not in our court’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in comments published by Brazil’s O Globo newspaper on Monday that his country is “open to negotiations”, but that “the ball is not in our court” and it was up to Ukraine to make the first move to launch direct talks.
Ukraine needs to “cancel” a 2022 decree ruling out negotiations with Russia – introduced after Russia annexed four regions that year – he said, before doubling down on demands for international recognition of Crimea and Sevastopol, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia as a condition for a truce.
He also reiterated Moscow’s demands on “demilitarizing and denazifying” Ukraine and barring the country from joining the NATO military alliance.
Zelenskyy said last Friday that Ukraine would “not legally recognise any temporarily occupied territories”, and has previously called the demilitarisation demand “incomprehensible”.
Trump, whose meeting with Zelenskyy on Saturday was the first since the pair clashed in the Oval Office in February, suggested on Sunday that Ukraine might be ready to give up Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula seized by Russia in 2014.
‘Plain lies’
Before Putin’s announcement. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram on Monday that continuing Russian attacks contradicted the Kremlin’s statements about wanting peace.
“All the Russians’ statements about peace without ceasing fire are just plain lies,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine targeted each other with long-range strikes, officials said on Monday.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces downed 119 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over its Bryansk border region.
In Ukraine, air raid sirens rang out across the country on Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
A Russian attack on a Ukrainian village near the front-line city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region killed three residents, regional prosecutors said.
Source: Aljazeera
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