Ukraine and Russia agree to three-day ceasefire, including prisoner exchange
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire from May 9th to 11th. Both countries have previously accused each other of violating these agreements.
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 9 that he believes the war in Ukraine is nearing an end, just hours after pledging victory in Ukraine at Moscow’s smallest Victory Day parade in years.
“I think this issue is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters, referring to the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. Putin also said he was open to negotiating a new European security agreement and that his preferred negotiator would be former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when many feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
The Kremlin announced that peace talks brokered by President Donald Trump’s administration are being paused. Putin has repeatedly vowed to continue fighting until all of Russia’s various war objectives are achieved in what the Kremlin calls “special military operations.”
Putin was speaking in the Kremlin after giving his views on the causes of the war. He blamed “globalist” Western leaders, saying they tried to pull Ukraine into the European Union’s orbit after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, despite NATO’s promise not to expand eastward.
His statement came just hours after the May 9 holiday parade celebrating the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. This annual event honors the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in that war.
Instead of the usual intercontinental ballistic missiles, tanks and missile systems rolling down the cobblestones of Red Square, Russia showed footage of military equipment in action on giant screens across the Kremlin wall.
Russian forces have been fighting in Ukraine for more than four years. This is longer than the Soviet army fought in World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War from 1941 to 1945.
war in europe
Putin, who has ruled Russia as president or prime minister since late 1999, faces a wave of unrest in Moscow over the Ukraine war that has left hundreds of thousands dead, left all of Ukraine in ruins and drained Russia’s $3 trillion economy. Relations between Russia and Europe are worse than at any time since the depths of the Cold War.
Russian forces have so far been unable to take control of the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Kiev forces have been pushed back into lines of fortified cities. Although Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine’s territory this year, its advances have slowed.
US President Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire from May 9 to May 11, with support from the Kremlin and Kiev, after Russia and Ukraine accused each other in recent days of violating unilateral ceasefires declared by each. The two countries also agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners.
“I want this to stop. Russia and Ukraine, this is the worst situation since World War II in terms of human lives. We have 25,000 young soldiers every month. It’s crazy,” Trump told reporters in Washington.
He also said he hoped the ceasefire would be “significantly extended.” There were no reports of ceasefire violations from either Moscow or Kiev.
Meeting with Schroeder
European Council President Antonio Costa said last week that he believed there was a “possibility” for the EU to negotiate with Russia and discuss the future of Europe’s security architecture.
When asked if President Putin was willing to negotiate with European countries, he said Schröder was the preferred person.
President Putin said, “Personally, I would prefer Mr. Schröder, former chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
European leaders say Russia must be defeated in Ukraine, painting Putin as a war criminal and dictator who could one day attack NATO members if allowed to win the war. Russia has dismissed such claims as nonsense.
President Putin, who ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022, has accused European powers of being warmongers supporting Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in aid, weapons and intelligence.
Asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Putin said talks would only be possible if a permanent peace deal was agreed.
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by David Gregorio)
