Kyiv responds to Russian announcement by calling for an immediate 30-day halt to fighting 'not just for a parade'
Vladimir Putin has declared a three-day full ceasefire in the war with Ukraine in May to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union in the second world war.
The Kremlin said the 72-hour ceasefire would run from the start of 8 May to the end of 10 May, and called on Ukraine to join it as well. "All hostilities will be suspended during this period," the Kremlin said in a statement. "Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example."
The Kremlin said that in the event of violations of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian side, Russian armed forces would deliver an "adequate and effective" response.
Ukraine responded to Putin's announcement by calling for an immediate month-long ceasefire.
"If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately. Why wait until May 8th? If the fire can be ceased now and since any date for 30 days - so it is real, not just for a parade," the country's foreign secretary, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on social media.
"Ukraine is ready to support a lasting, durable, and full ceasefire. And this is what we are constantly proposing, for at least 30 days," he added.
The White House said Donald Trump wanted to see "a permanent ceasefire" and that the US president was becoming "increasingly frustrated" with the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine.
Putin, in his statement, also said he was ready to engage constructively with international partners to address the "root causes" of the conflict.
For Russia, that terminology serves as code for some of its more hardline aims in a broader settlement - including preventing Ukraine from joining Nato, limiting the size of its military, and having a say over Ukraine's domestic politics.
If respected by both sides, the May ceasefire would mark the first full ceasefire since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.
However, the temporary nature of the truce suggests that US efforts to broker a broader peace deal remain elusive.
Russia has previously rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions. Ukraine accepted it, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the country's president, has said.
Kyiv and Moscow had previously agreed to a partial Easter ceasefire, though each side accused the other of violating it. Since then, Russia has continued pounding Ukrainian cities, killing scores of civilians across the country.
The announcement of the ceasefire came as the Kremlin and Pyongyang confirmed for the first time that North Korean troops had been deployed to fight against Ukraine, following months of official silence on the widely reported deployment.
Ukraine reacted with scepticism to Putin's latest ceasefire offer and pointed out that Russia announced a similar truce over the Easter period only to massively violate it.
Commentators suggested the offer was a move to avoid the embarrassing spectacle of Ukrainian long-range drones disrupting the Kremlin's Victory Day parade on Red Square and embarrassing Russia's president in front of international leaders in Moscow.
They added that the unilateral move was clearly directed at the White House. It follows Trump's one-on-one meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday in Rome at the pope's funeral - hailed by both sides as "constructive".
In reality, Russia intended to continue its war, they suggested. Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian blogger and former interior ministry adviser, noted that Russia broke its own Easter ceasefire more than 3,000 times, according to Zelenskyy.
During the 30-hour period, the Russian army stopped its long-range missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. But it continued drone and artillery attacks across the frontline and even carried out infantry ground assaults, Ukrainian brigades confirmed.
Russian engineering units also used the lull to repair broken crossings and to carrying out de-mining, in preparation for further offensives, they said. There was speculation on Monday that the Kremlin would begin a large-scale offensive after the Victory Day truce ended.
Ukraine agreed in March to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. Russia did not. Zelenskyy has called on the US and other partners to put pressure on Moscow, in order to bring about a "full and comprehensive ceasefire".
Posting on social media, the Ukrainian journalist Svitlana Morenets predicted: "Putin announcing another short-term ceasefire means only one thing: there will be no peace deal in the coming weeks. And no truce on the frontline either. Putin is just putting on a show to calm Trump down. He also needs to stop Ukrainian drones from ruining his Victory parade."
At the same time as Russia's announcement was made on Monday, air raid sirens rang out in several parts of the country, warning of strikes in the east and central Cherkasy region.
In recent weeks, Russia has carried out a series of bloody missile strikes. They include an attack on Sumy - the deadliest this year - in which 35 people were killed. Last Thursday, another 12 people died in Kyiv, after a wave of drones and ballistic missiles