Kamal Ghorui
US President Donald Trump on Friday announced a three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine starting Saturday, expressing hope that the temporary truce could pave the way for a long-term agreement to end the war.The ceasefire, which will run from May 9 to May 11, will also include a mutual exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side, Trump said. The announcement comes as the US president continues efforts to end the conflict that has stretched into its fourth 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 wrote on his Truth Social platform.“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” he added.“Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War.”The announcement followed Russia’s previously declared unilateral ceasefire linked to its Victory Day commemorations on May 9. Ukraine had earlier said Moscow ignored Kyiv’s own proposal for a short-term truce earlier this week.Despite the ceasefire announcement, fighting continued on Friday with both sides trading attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of maintaining assault operations despite the declared truce.“Despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of assault operations,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine was responding “in kind”.Russia’s defence authorities said more than 400 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted since midnight, including around 100 targeting Moscow, and stated that Russian troops were “responding symmetrically”.A Ukrainian drone strike killed a 41-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, according to Moscow-backed officials.Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 67 drones overnight, marking the lowest number of drone attacks in almost a month.Ahead of the ceasefire announcement, Kyiv had dismissed Russia’s temporary truce proposal as an attempt to secure calm for the annual Victory Day military parade in Moscow’s Red Square. Zelensky had also warned foreign leaders against attending the event.Russia had threatened a large-scale strike on Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the parade and had urged foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital in advance.On the streets of Kyiv, residents reacted cautiously to the warnings. “Nothing new will happen,” Vasyl Kobzar, a 40-year-old bank employee, told AFP. “I’m worried, but it’s become routine, unfortunately.”A Ukrainian lawmaker, speaking anonymously to AFP, said authorities had not introduced additional security measures. “We’re just giving (the Russians) the finger,” the lawmaker said.Meanwhile, Zelensky praised a Ukrainian strike on an oil depot in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, northeast of Moscow. Russia’s transport ministry also said 13 airports in southern Russia were temporarily shut after a Ukrainian drone struck an air navigation centre in Rostov-on-Don. Flights were later partially restored.Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a security council meeting following the strike and described it as “an act of a terrorist nature” that endangered civil aviation.The war, launched after Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, most of them in Ukraine. Diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have made little progress in recent months.
