MOSCOW/WASHINGTON – Russia and Ukraine confirmed on May 8 that they had agreed to a three-day ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump that will run from May 9 to May 11.
Mr Trump’s announcement on Truth Social also said each country, locked in more than four years of conflict, would be exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused the other of violating ceasefires declared separately this week as Russia readies to hold a Victory Day parade on May 9 that marks the 1945 Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
Mr Trump has grown increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress in ending the Ukraine-Russia war, and a halt in fighting offers a bit of good news for the US president, whose war against Iran with Israel has hurt his domestic approval rating. Efforts to end the Iran war, now in its third month, appeared stalled amid new flare-ups in fighting in the Gulf.
The Ukraine-Russia ceasefire would include a suspension of all “kinetic activity” and a swop of 1,000 prisoners from each country, Mr Trump said.
“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” he wrote.
Mr Trump added that talks were continuing to move towards an end of the war “and we are getting closer and closer every day”.
Mr Zelensky, writing on Telegram, confirmed the ceasefire had been arranged as part of US negotiating efforts and that humanitarian issues remained a key priority.
“That is why today, within the framework of the negotiation process mediated by the American side, we received Russia’s agreement to conduct a prisoner of war exchange in the format of 1,000 for 1,000,” Mr Zelensky wrote.
Mr Zelensky also issued a tongue-in-cheek decree “allowing” Russia’s May 9 military parade to proceed and saying Ukrainian weapons would not target Red Square.
The May 8 news followed what Mr Zelensky described as substantive talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Miami, with US envoys due to visit Kyiv in the coming months.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, speaking to reporters on Mr Putin’s behalf, said Russia had also agreed to Mr Trump’s initiative.
“An agreement on this matter was reached during our telephone discussions with the US administration,” he said.
Earlier, Russia and Ukraine had accused each other of violating ceasefires that each had separately declared.
The two sides are still pummelling each other with missiles, drones and artillery, with no end to the war in sight. Peace talks are stalled, with Ukraine rejecting Mr Putin’s demand that it surrender territory it has successfully defended since 2022.
Mr Putin had unilaterally declared a two-day ceasefire on May 8 and 9 to cover the Victory Day commemorations – Russia’s most revered national holiday.
Kyiv responded that a ceasefire just for the holiday was inappropriate and called instead for an indefinite truce to begin two days earlier, which Moscow ignored.
The Russian defence ministry said 264 Ukrainian drones had been downed in the early hours of May 8, while Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the capital had been targeted and officials said the Urals region of Perm had been attacked with drones.
Ukraine said it had struck a Russian oil refinery in Perm for the second day running and hit another oil facility in the city of Yaroslavl.
Mr Zelensky said Russian forces continued to strike Ukrainian positions overnight.
Russia has warned that any attempt by Ukraine to disrupt the Red Square parade on May 9 would trigger a massive missile strike on Kyiv. Moscow has told diplomats that if Ukraine did attack the event, they should evacuate the Ukrainian capital.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II, including many millions in Ukraine, but pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Adolf Hitler killed himself and the red Soviet Victory Banner was raised over the Reichstag in May 1945.
This year’s parade in Moscow – usually a show of Russian military might with intercontinental ballistic missiles and tanks – will have no military equipment on display.
The Kremlin has said Russia is stepping up security around Mr Putin in case of a Ukrainian attack on the event, at which Mr Putin will give a speech. He is later due to meet visiting foreign dignitaries, including from Laos, Malaysia and Slovakia.
Moscow’s troops have now been fighting in Ukraine for well over four years – longer than the Soviet involvement, from 1941-45, in what Russians refer to as the Great Patriotic War.
Russia, which controls about 19.4 per cent of Ukraine, has seen its advances slow this year, taking just 700 square km in the first four months of the year, according to pro-Ukrainian maps. REUTERS
