Ukraine called on Monday Russia to accept “immediately” a “global” ceasefire for “at least 30 days”, while Vladimir Putin had announced a three-day truce. This break in the fighting was scheduled from May 8 to 10, while every May 9, Russia commemorates the capitulation of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, signed in Berlin on May 8, 1945 at 11 p.m., 1 hour in the morning in Moscow.
“Why wait until May 8? “Said the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriï Sybiga assuring that his country” is ready “to support a sustainable and global cease-fire. And this is what we constantly offer, for at least 30 days ”. The President of the United States, Donald Trump added. “The president clearly noted that he wanted a permanent ceasefire,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokesperson during a press point.
“If it remains optimistic that he can conclude an agreement, he is also realistic, and the two leaders must come to the negotiation table to get out of this,” she added about Donald Trump and the Russian and Ukrainian presidents.
The Kremlin announced it on its Telegram channel in anticipation of the 80th anniversary of the victory day: “By decision of the Supreme Commander-in of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, based on humanitarian considerations, the Russian part declares a cease-fire on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of victory-from May 7 to 8 at midnight. All military actions will stop during this period, ”said the press release. “Russia believes that the Ukrainian party should follow this example,” said the Kremlin.
Moscow says he is “ready to carry out peace negotiations”
The Russian authorities have warned that “in the event of violation of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian party, the armed forces of the Russian Federation will provide an adequate and effective response”.
At the same time, “the Russian party declares once again that it is ready to conduct peace negotiations without prerequisites, aimed at eliminating the causes of the Ukrainian crisis, and to interact in a constructive manner with international partners”. “Without prerequisites”, except that that the international community recognizes Russian sovereignty on the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, and on the four partially conquered Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Lougansk, Kherson and Zaporijia) since the start of the war, as repeated by the chief of the Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov this Monday.
In recent weeks, Russia has refused to respect an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine had accepted at the request of the Trump administration. The truce of a day announced by Putin for Easter was not respected, the two camps accusing each other to continue the fighting. In the aftermath of his meeting with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, under the highly symbolic patronage of the Saint -Pierre Basilica – Pope Francis had ceased to propose his mediation to put an end to the war – Donald Trump said about his Russian counterpart: “I want him to stop shooting, that he signs and signs an agreement. I believe that we have the limits of an agreement and I want him to sign it, that he ends up with it and that he returns to life. And US Secretary of State Marco Rubio even posed the threat that the Trump administration is focusing on other questions if no positive sign intervened “in the week”.
Russia repeats being ready to negotiate with kyiv, but is however reluctant on a prolonged truce. “We want guarantees that the ceasefire will not be used again to strengthen the Ukrainian army and that the (Western) delivery (Western) deliveries,” said Russian diplomacy chief Sergei Lavrov, in an interview with the American CBS channel broadcast on Sunday.
