Trump announces 3-day Russia-Ukraine ceasefire
Three-day truce to pause fighting and enable major prisoner exchange
US President Donald Trump has announced a three-day ceasefire in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, set to take place from May 9 to May 11.
Trump posted on Truth Social that the ceasefire will coincide with Russia’s Victory Day celebrations and acknowledged Ukraine’s role in World War II.
He said the truce will involve a suspension of all military activity and a prisoner exchange of 1,000 individuals from each country.
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“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Trump wrote.
He expressed hope that the ceasefire marks the “beginning of the end” of the war, describing the ongoing conflict as “the biggest since World War II” and saying negotiations to end it are progressing.
Zelensky calls for ceasefire to be enforced
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that the ceasefire "must be established" and confirmed that Kyiv had received Moscow’s agreement for a large-scale prisoner swap, also on a 1,000-for-1,000 basis.
Ukraine had previously dismissed Russia’s temporary truce as a propaganda move aimed at protecting the May 9 Victory Day parade, a key patriotic event for President Putin. Zelensky also cautioned Moscow’s allies against attending the parade.
Conflict toll and Victory Day impact
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians, mostly in Ukraine, have been killed since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Victory Day parades in Moscow will see military hardware absent for the first time in almost 20 years, and only a handful of foreign guests will attend.
Negotiations to end what has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have made little progress and have been overshadowed by the Iran conflict.
With inputs from AFP, AP
