Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin announces new temporary ceasefire for May public holiday – UK Times

Vladimir Putin will not keep his word with his latest ceasefire announcement, a Ukrainian MP and adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky has told The Independent.

“He is not going to keep his word,” Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko said.

“He is declaring something and immediately dosing the opposite. Again there will be no ceasefire, there will be a continuation of bombing, on the frontline there will be continuation of fighting, I have absolutely no doubt about that.”

Mr Merezhko added that Mr Putin might be calling the ceasefire to “show Trump he is responding in a positive way to his [peace] initiative”, adding that this is “not sincere” from the Russian autocrat.

Russian attacks during the 30-hour Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by President Vladimir Putin over the weekend killed three people in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, a regional official said Monday.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of Kherson’s administration, added that three others were wounded in the region, parts of which are occupied by Russia.

After Mr Putin declared the move on Saturday 19 April, Ukraine responded by voicing readiness to reciprocate any genuine ceasefire but said the Russian attacks continued. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times.

Read last week’s full report:

Chief international correspondent Bel Trew writes:

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.

The Kremlin said a truce would take place from May 8 to 10, coinciding with Russia’s Victory Day celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. Timing likely designed to stir up domestic audiences, given Putin’s repeated and 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 skepticism.

Kyiv previously said Moscow violated a similar temporary truce during Easter. President Volodymyr Zelensky even accused Russia of using that ceasefire to advance: saying Russian assaults persisted on multiple fronts, artillery fire did not subside, and attacks on energy infrastructure were relentless.

Over the weekend, Mr Zelensky warned Russia had only shown an “alleged readiness” to accept U.S. proposals for 30-day ceasefire to kick start longer term peace negociations.

“Every day of such battles at the front proves that Russia is really trying to deceive the world – to deceive America and others – and to further prolong this war,” he said on social media.

That stance was reiterated by his chief of staff and close confidant Andriy Yermak Monday morning, just before news broke of Putin’s proposal.

“All the Russian statements about peace without their stopping the fire are a simple lie,” he wrtoe on his Telegram page.

There are unlikely to be celebrations on the ground in Ukraine. During the last ceasefire announcement, air raid sirens blared in Kyiv, sending residents scrambling to shelters. On Monday morning, the same scene repeated – reportedly under a wave of Shaheed drones.

On popular Ukrainian Telegram groups, Ukrainian analysts and journalists immediately called it out as “Another lie for Trump”.

“Putin’s promise will likely have nothing to do with a real ceasefire again,” wrote one.

For Ukrainians anything less than an full agreement to follow a proper deal, is quite literally blast and bluster.

Russia has called on Ukraine to “follow” its example in calling a ceasefire for the May bank holiday.

There has been no immediate response from the Ukrainian side, which accused Russia of repeated violations of the previous temporary truce it called on Easter Sunday.

“All military actions are suspended for this period [8-10 May]. Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example,” a Kremlin statement read.

“In the event of violations by the Ukrainian side, Russia’s armed forces will give an adequate and effective response.”

Moscow says it is calling a truce to mark the 80th anniversary of victory in WW2 by Russia and the allied forces.

While most of the allied countries celebrate 8 May as VE (Victory in Europe) Day, Russia and some former Soviet countries celebrate it on 9 May.

This is because Germany’s unconditional surrender entered into force at 11:01pm on 8 May in most of Europe – which was 12:01am on 9 May in Moscow time.

Moscow hosts a Victory Day Parade each year in the Red Square, a vast military affair with thousands of troops lined outside the Kremlin for an event attended by Russia’s most powerful figures.

A ceasefire will bring relief to troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where Russia has focussed the bulk of its attacks for many months.

Russia sends thousands of troops charging towards Ukrainian defences almost every day, suffering significant personnel losses for the sake of incremental territorial gains.

The war of attrition has been damaging for Ukraine, which has struggled with manpower problems against the sheer might of Russian forces.

But Ukrainian troops have so far held out in Pokrosvk, a key strategic town 56 kilometres northwest of Donetsk, critical for the transfer of Ukrainian supplies across the frontline.

There has been no response from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to the Russian declaration of a temporary ceasefire over the May public holiday.

We’ll bring you all the latest reaction as it comes in.

Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary ceasefire for the May public holidays, the Kremlin has announced.

The ceasefire, lasting from 8-11 May, will coincide with Russia’s World War 2 Victory Day on 9 May.

Russia will respond to any Ukrainian violations of the ceasefire and Moscow remains ready for peace talks without any preconditions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Petrov said.

Donald Trump has said he “thinks” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to give up Crimea to Russia as part of a peace deal.

“I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump told reporters at an airport in New Jersey.

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 U.S. 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.