Russia and Ukraine confirmed on Friday a US-brokered truce and a large prisoner swap over May 9-11, when Moscow celebrates its World War II victory, after trading drone strikes and declaring unilateral ceasefires in the run-up.
US President Donald Trump first announced a three-day truce between the warring sides, saying he hoped it could lead to a long-term deal to end the war.
Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its WWII victory holiday on May 9. Ukraine earlier stated that it too had offered a truce, but it had been ignored by Moscow.
The truce would also include a mutual swap of 1,000 prisoners each, said Trump, who has struggled to end the four-year conflict he once pledged to solve within a day of taking office last year.
“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” said the US president.
“Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a ceasefire “must be established,” ordering the army not to target Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, the venue for its annual victory parade, held this year without military hardware.
A senior source in the Ukrainian presidency, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP that Kyiv “exchanged the absence of drones in Moscow tomorrow for 1,000 of POWs.”
Ukraine will act “mirror-like” during the truce, the source added.
In Moscow, the Kremlin had welcomed Trump’s proposal, saying it was “important” that it coincided with Russia’s “sacred” holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
– Strike exchange –
Russia and Ukraine had traded attacks earlier on Friday before Trump’s announcement.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 67 drones overnight — the lowest number in almost a month.
“Despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of assault operations,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine was reacting in kind.
Russia said it had downed more than 400 Ukrainian drones — 100 of them targeting Moscow — since midnight, and that its troops were “responding symmetrically”.
A Ukrainian drone killed a 41-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, according to the Moscow-backed administration.
Kyiv said it had hit two refineries in Russia’s regions of Yaroslavl and Perm.
Some 13 airports in southern Russia were closed Friday after a Ukrainian drone hit an air navigation centre in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow’s transport ministry said. It later said that flights had been partially restored.
Putin convened a security council meeting over the strike, calling it an “act of a terrorist nature” that could endanger civil aviation.
– No tanks –
Ukraine had dismissed Russia’s temporary truce as a propaganda measure to protect the victory parade on May 9 — one of the most important patriotic events for Putin.
Hours before Russia’s ceasefire began, Zelensky warned Moscow’s allies against attending the parade.
Russia had threatened a massive strike on the heart of Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the victory parade and urged foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital ahead of the event.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides and tens of thousands of civilians, most of them in Ukraine, have been killed since Putin ordered the invasion in February 2022.
Putin has made memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany a key pillar of his 25-year rule, staging large parades on May 9 and invoking it to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
But military hardware will be absent from the parade for the first time in almost two decades and only a handful of foreign guests will attend.
Talks on ending what has spiralled into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have shown little progress and have been sidelined by conflict in the Middle East.
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