The US president’s request received approval from Putin and Zelensky
The President of the United States wrote again on his social network, Truth Social, and this time with good news for Moscow and Kiev. On the eve of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, Donald Trump announced the implementation of a three-day ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The truce is scheduled to begin this Saturday and extend until Monday.
“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE-DAY Ceasefire (May 9, 10 and 11) in the war between Russia and Ukraine,” declared the North American leader, highlighting the symbolism of the cessation of hostilities on that date.
“The celebration in Russia is for Victory Day, but, in the same way, in Ukraine, because they also played an important role and weight in the Second World War.”
In addition to a suspension of “all military activity”, the ceasefire includes, according to Trump, the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each country.
With the endorsement of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump concluded the message with a positive tone: “I hope this is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly and hard-fought war. Negotiations to put an end to this great conflict, the biggest since the Second World War, continue and we are getting closer and closer to an agreement.”
Later, the American president said he would like to see the ceasefire between both nations extended beyond the three days defined this afternoon.
The leader of Ukraine confirmed Trump’s announcement, as well as the prisoner exchange through a publication on Telegram: “We have received Russia’s agreement to carry out a prisoner exchange in the format of 1,000 for 1,000. A ceasefire regime must also be established on the 9th, 10th and 11th of May.”
Shortly afterwards, Volodymyr Zelensky published a symbolic decree in which he “allows” the traditional military parade to be held on Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow, guaranteeing that Ukrainian forces will not aim weapons at the Russian capital.
Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its Second World War Victory Day, although it was accused by Ukrainian troops of violating its own truce. Ukrainian lieutenant colonel Viktor Trehubov was one of those who denounced the situation, since, according to him, there are no visible changes in the dynamics of combat operations.
“[A trégua] does not make itself felt in any way. If we are talking about events directly on the ground, combat operations continued without interruption. In principle, it is still too early for me to comment, because the intelligence data is only arriving now, but so far we are not observing any significant changes in the dynamics,” Trehubov said, via Ukrinform.
