Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of violating a three-day ceasefire that President Trump announced on Friday, following a pattern of most short-term truces that have been attempted in the four-year-old conflict.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the ceasefire would be observed from May 9 to May 11 to mark Russia’s Victory Day, when Russia celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II, and would also include a prisoner swap.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Saturday that it recorded thousands of Ukrainian ceasefire violations and that it launched “tit-for-tat” attacks, though it also insisted its troops were observing the truce.
Russia held its Victory Day parade in Moscow on Saturday and had warned there would be a major response if it were hit by Ukrainian drones, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had hinted could happen, but there’s no sign the event was targeted.
On Sunday night, Zelensky accused Russia of violating the truce and “not even particularly trying to” implement it, but he also acknowledged there were no major attacks beyond the frontline and areas near it.
“It is encouraging that, as of now, there have been no massive attacks today – no missile strikes or air attacks. But in frontline areas and in communities near the front, there has been no quiet,” Zelensky said in an evening address.
“Yesterday and today, Ukraine refrained from long-range retaliatory actions in response to the absence of large-scale Russian attacks,” he added. “We will continue to respond in the same mirrorlike manner, and if the Russians decide to return to full-scale warfare, our response will be immediate and significant.”
Also on Sunday, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said President Trump had not abandoned efforts to end the war. “I would not say that Washington is somehow abandoning the Ukraine issue,” said Yury Ushakov, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. “This is demonstrated precisely by our active telephone contacts. In particular, there is Trump’s initiative [on a ceasefire], which he proposed and which we supported.”
Ushakov also said that the main issue in the talks to end the war is Ukraine’s refusal to withdraw its troops from the territory it still controls in the Donbas region. “Until [Ukraine] takes this step, we can hold several more rounds, dozens of rounds [of negotiations], but we will remain in exactly the same place, you understand? That is the issue,” he said.
