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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed this Friday the announcement made by the American president Donald Trump regarding a three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, which will come into effect on May 9 and will last until the 11th, coinciding with the celebrations of Victory Day in World War II.
During a visit to the Ukrainian units fighting on the front in Oleksandrivka (southeast), Zelensky confirmed the news but stated that just hours after the ceasefire began, "Russian forces continue their attacks against enemy positions despite the declaration of a ceasefire."
"Despite the announced ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of its assaults," he wrote, coinciding with the first day of the 48-hour truce declared by the Kremlin starting at midnight.
Trump announced the agreement through his platform Truth Social, where he stated that he personally requested the truce from both leaders. "I am pleased to announce that there will be a three-day ceasefire (May 9, 10, and 11) in the war between Russia and Ukraine," wrote the president, who expressed his gratitude that the initiative was accepted by both Vladimir Putin and Zelenski.
The agreement encompasses the suspension of all kinetic activity and an exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each country, totaling 2,000 releases. "This ceasefire will include the suspension of all kinetic activity, as well as an exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each country. This request was made directly by me," Trump specified in the same message.
The U.S. president expressed his hope that the truce will be "the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard-fought war" and noted that discussions to end the conflict—characterized as "the largest since World War II"—continue to make progress.
This tripartite truce, agreed upon with direct mediation from Washington, comes after days of mutual accusations between Moscow and Kiev regarding the failure to comply with prior unilateral ceasefires. Russia had declared its own unilateral truce for May 8 and 9, which was later extended to the 10th, while Ukraine announced its own ceasefire on May 6 as a "gesture of goodwill."
Both parties accused each other of violating those unilateral ceasefires. The Russian Ministry of Defense denounced that Ukraine continued attacking military positions, while Zelensky stated that by 7:00 a.m. local time on Friday, "more than 140 Russian attacks on front-line positions had been documented."
The immediate antecedent of this agreement was a call lasting over 90 minutes between Trump and Putin on April 29, during which the Russian leader proposed a ceasefire for Victory Day. Zelenski then rejected the initiative, labeling it a "manipulation" to safeguard the military parade in Moscow, and demanded an unconditional ceasefire of at least 30 days.
The Secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, Rustem Umerov, held talks described as "fruitful" with representatives of the Trump administration in Miami on Thursday, paving the way for the agreement.
The new truce is qualitatively different from previous attempts to gain formal acceptance from both parties. In March 2025, Ukraine and Russia accepted a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, although fighting continued with mutual accusations of violations. In April 2026, Putin declared a unilateral truce for Orthodox Easter with similar results.
According to the research dossier, a meeting is scheduled in Istanbul on May 16 between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, the first in over three years, where the prisoner exchange agreed upon in this truce will also be discussed, which could mark the beginning of formal peace negotiations.
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