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War monitor says Putin is likely using limited ceasefires to gain battlefield advantages
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Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of “another attempt at manipulation” with his latest offer of a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine
The Kremlin announced Russia would observe a 72-hour ceasefire next weekend, starting from 8 May and lasting until the close of 10 May, as Moscow wants to mark the 80th anniversary of victory in the Second World War.
“Russia has consistently rejected everything and continues to manipulate the world, trying to deceive the United States. Now, yet again, another attempt at manipulation: for some reason everyone is supposed to wait until 8 May before ceasing fire – just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,” Mr Zelensky said on X last night.
The Institute for the Study of War said Mr Putin is leveraging unilateral ceasefires for informational and battlefield advantages in Ukraine.
Donald Trump has upped his criticism of Mr Putin after meeting Mr Zelensky at the Vatican. The US president said he was “very disappointed” in Russia’s continued bombardment of civilian areas in Ukraine.
At least two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Belgorod region, officials said.
The attack saw a Ukrainian drone slam into a moving car on a highway in Belgorod, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said this morning.
Three others were injured, he said. The identities of those targeted in the incident remains unclear.
A 12-year-old child was killed and three others were wounded in central Ukraine overnight amid Russia’s drone attack, Ukrainian officials said.
One of the 100 drones fired by Russia hit a residential building in Samarivskyi district in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and killed a girl, Ukraine’s emergency service said.
The residents pulled the girl out of the rubble but she died on the way to the hospital, the service said.
“The Russian army again massively deployed drones to the region,” Dnipropetrovsk region governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram, adding that a six-year-old girl and two adults were hurt in the attack.
The air force downed seven drones over the region, he added.
Another 47-year-old woman was hurt in the city of Nikopol, also in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a local official said.
US president Donald Trump is likely preparing to walk away from Ukraine talks and might use minor excuses to shelve his plans to end the war, European sources have said.
Mr Trump was “setting up a situation where he gives himself excuses to walk away and leave it to Ukraine and us [Europe] to fix,” a European official told the Financial Times.
The report, citing four FT sources, said that there is a belief in Europe and Ukraine that the US president is ready to lock any “breakthrough” in peace talks in Ukraine this week as he marks 100 days of his presidency.
There are fears in Kyiv as well that Mr Trump will pull out from peace talks, some Ukrainian officials told the FT.
There have been intense efforts from Mr Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio who urged Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday to end the war in Ukraine “now”.
Less than two days after US president Donald Trump lashed out at Vladimir Putin for “tapping me along” over a peace deal, the Russian president has announced another temporary ceasefire – this one scheduled to last three days.
His grand declaration raised immediate suspicion over whether this was yet another stalling tactic from the most conniving of dictators.
The Kremlin said the truce would take place from 8 to 10 May, to coincide with Russia’s Victory Day celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany – likely not a coincidence, given Putin’s repeated, completely baseless claims that a “neo-Nazi regime” in Ukraine justified his full-scale invasion.
Ukraine has yet to officially respond, but will no doubt greet the news with a large dose of scepticism.
Chief international correspondent Bel Trew writes:
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused the Russian president Vladimir Putin of manipulating the world and deceiving the US with his latest temporary ceasefire offer made yesterday.
Mr Putin announced a temporary ceasefire along the war frontline in Ukraine next weekend to mark the 80th anniversary of victory in the Second World War, the Kremlin has said.
“Russia has consistently rejected everything and continues to manipulate the world, trying to deceive the United States. Now, yet again, another attempt at manipulation: for some reason everyone is supposed to wait until 8 May before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address yesterday.
He said: “We in Ukraine never wanted a single second of this war. Back on 11 March, we responded positively to the American proposal for a full ceasefire.”
“We made our own proposal to Russia – bilaterally – to halt strikes at least on civilian targets. We also proposed making the Easter ceasefire full and extending it for thirty days,” Mr Zelensky said, highlighting numerous ceasefire proposals made by Kyiv that have not been acknowledged by Moscow so far.
The 72-hour ceasefire is the second announced by Moscow in recent weeks, after it declared a 30-hour Easter Sunday truce – which Kyiv and its European allies accused it of breaching.
The Kremlin said the truce will last from the beginning of 8 May and last until the close of 10 May, adding that Russia give an “adequate and effective response” to any Ukrainian violations.
Moscow remains ready for peace talks without any preconditions, the statement added.
Mr Zelensky has called for a “full and unconditional cease fire for at least 30 days” to provide “a basis for real diplomacy”.
The UN has reacted to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a temporary ceasefire along the war frontlines in Ukraine.
A top UN official has said that the agency wants to see an end to Russia’s war based on international law and the organisation’s charter.
“We’ve taken note of the various statements. Our position remains the same, that we want to see an end to the war, but we need to see an end to the war that remains principled and consistent and firmly grounded in the UN Charter, in international law, in line with all the relevant resolutions. It needs to be sustainable and recognise the sovereignty and [territorial] integrity of Ukraine,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres.
The Russian president yesterday declared a new three-day ceasefire in May to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in the Second World War.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the Russian leader’s announcement and said the world did not want to wait until 8 May for a ceasefire that will only be in effect for a few days.
Donald Trump has said he “thinks” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to give up Crimea to Russia as part of a peace deal.
Asked whether Kyiv was prepared to lose Crimea to Moscow, which Zelensky ruled out just last week in comments which sparked a renewed war of words, the US president said: “I think so.”
Moscow, which has occupied Crimea since a ground invasion in 2014, has said it does not see the southern peninsula as being part of any negotiations.
“This is a done deal,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said of Crimea in an interview with CBS News’ Face The Nation program. “Russia do[es] not negotiate its own territory.”
Mr Trump has ramped up pressure on Kyiv over Crimea, saying in no uncertain terms that “Crimea will stay with Russia” in an interview with Time published on Friday. “Zelensky understands that and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” he added.
Asked whether he “liked” the comments by the US president, Mr Lavrov said: “It’s not about liking or disliking. It’s about the fact that he said the truth.”
Volodymyr Zelensky has offered emergency assistance to Spain after the country was hit by a sudden power outage yesterday.
The Ukrainian president also cited dozens of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system and said that the war-hit nation has experience in handling energy challenges.
“I spoke with the Prime Minister of Spain @SanchezCastejon about the emergency situation in the energy system. No matter what happens, we are always ready to assist and support our friends,” Mr Zelensky said.
He added: “Over the years of war and Russian attacks on our energy system, Ukraine has gained significant experience in overcoming any energy challenges, including blackouts. Our specialists can join recovery efforts. I offered such assistance to Spain. I instructed Ukraine’s Minister of Energy to act as swiftly as possible. Our technical experts are ready to help.”
Russia launched 100 drones in overnight attacks targeting Ukraine, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 37 drones, while 47 others disappeared from radars without reaching their targets – usually a result of being jammed by electronic warfare systems
The attacks caused damage in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv regions, it said in a Telegram post.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has urged Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to end the war in Ukraine now, a spokesperson said.
“After Special Envoy Witkoff’s 25 April visit to Moscow, the Secretary underscored to his Russian counterpart the next steps in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and the need to end the war now,” US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
The “United States is serious about faciliating an end to this senseless war”, according to the spokesperson who said that Mr Rubio and Mr Lavrov spoke on Sunday at the Russian official’s request.
In what appears to be a final push from Washington, the Trump administration is making intense efforts to broker a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.
Mr Rubio has threatened that the US might abandon the process and walk away if there are no signs of cooperation and that the upcoming week will be crucial for determining the US’s involvement in the peace talks.
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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s 72-hour ceasefire slammed by Zelensky as ‘manipulation’ – The Independent
