Trump announces Russia-Ukraine three-day ceasefire from 9 May

Donald Trump has announced on social media that there will be a three-day ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine from 9 to 11 May. The US president said the ceasefire would include a suspension of all “kinetic activity” and a swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country. Trump said in his Truth Social post: “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” adding that there was constant progress in talks to end the conflict. Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its 9 May second world war Victory Day on Saturday. Ukraine previously said that it too had offered a truce but that this had been ignored by Moscow. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed Trump’s announcement and the prisoner swap on Friday night, writing on Telegram: “We received Russia’s agreement to conduct a prisoner exchange in the format of 1,000 for 1,000. A ceasefire regime must also be established on May 9, 10, and 11.” Ukraine had never before said it would abide by Moscow’s call to briefly halt strikes, lambasting Putin for only wanting to pause fighting so he could stage Saturday’s annual military parade on Red Square. Kyiv said Moscow had ignored a Ukrainian proposal to halt fighting earlier this week – a counter-offer for a short-term ceasefire. Zelenskyy had cast it as a test of whether the Kremlin was serious about providing a brief respite in the four-year war. …