Ukraine yesterday said Russia is flouting a Kyiv-proposed ceasefire by carrying out dozens of battlefield assaults, air strikes and drone attacks in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as Moscow’s “obvious spurning” of peace.
Zelenskiy had floated the cessation, starting yesterday, in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own proposed ceasefire from tomorrow to Saturday to coincide with its World War II Victory Day commemorations.
Zelenskiy said in a statement that Russia, which did not confirm its adherence to Ukraine’s proposal, had committed 1,820 violations by late yesterday morning.
Photo: Reuters
“Russia’s choice is an obvious spurning of a ceasefire and of saving lives,” he said.
Officials in the northeastern Sumy region said two people were killed in separate Russian drone attacks on a civilian vehicle and a kindergarten where children were not present.
In major cities such as Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia — where an attack on Tuesday killed 12 people — private buildings, infrastructure and industrial sites were damaged in air attacks after midnight, officials said.
“This shows that Russia rejects peace and its fake calls for a ceasefire on May 9th have nothing to do with diplomacy,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
“Putin only cares about military parades, not human lives,” he added.
The rival overtures come amid stalled US-backed peace talks to end the more than four-year war, and as Russia presses an offensive to capture the rest of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Russia this week is to hold a slimmed-down version of its annual military parade in central Moscow, citing an increased threat of Ukrainian attacks.
Zelenskiy yesterday said that officials would decide on “further actions” later in the day in response to Russia’s attacks.
He had earlier said that Kyiv would act “symmetrically” if its ceasefire was violated.
The Russian Ministry of Defense on Monday said that it would respond to Ukrainian attacks during Victory Day celebrations with a “massive missile attack” on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
“We are warning the civilian population of Kyiv and staff at foreign diplomatic missions of the need to leave the city in a timely manner,” it said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Monday said that a Ukrainian drone had struck a building in Russia’s capital overnight, but had caused no casualties.
Some Ukrainians said any unilateral efforts by their military to maintain a ceasefire with Russia would likely prove fruitless while cities and frontline troops remain under attack.
“Maybe we should act the same way Russia does. That is, not to stay silent, not to observe the truce,” 52-year-old Nataliia Fomenko said in Kyiv. “We have no other choice.”
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