President Donald Trump announced that there will be a three-day ceasefire and prisoner swap in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump announced the ceasefire and prisoner swap on Friday in a Truth Social post, declaring it on May 9, 10 and 11 in recognition of Victory Day, a Russian state holiday. The holiday is also celebrated by Ukraine on May 8 and is known as “Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.”
“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump announced in the Truth Social post. “The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II. This Ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each Country.”
“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by [Russian] President Vladimir Putin and [Ukrainian] President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” he added. “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War.”
‘Retaliatory Strikes’
Zelenskyy said that Russian forces ignored his proposal for a full ceasefire and continued their military operation.
“Based on today’s developments, we see that Russia responded to our ceasefire proposal only with new strikes and new attacks,” Zelenskyy said in a presidential announcement on Wednesday. “Throughout the entire day, almost every hour, reports of strikes have been coming in from different regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Dnipro regions, Sumy and Sumy region, Chernihiv region, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.”
In response to the statement, the Russian Defense Ministry published a press release claiming that Ukrainian forces violated the May 8 ceasefire.
“Despite the announced armistice, the Ukrainian armed groups continued to launch strikes using unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery against the positions of our troops, as well as against civilian objects in the border areas of Belgorod and Kursk regions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a press release on Friday. “In total, 1,365 ceasefire violations were recorded in the special military operation zone.”
Russia said that it conducted “retaliatory strikes” on Ukrainian “MLRS, artillery, and mortar positions” before issuing the press release.
Casualty counts in the war are highly disputed. Both the Russian and Ukrainian governments are reluctant to publish official figures of their own losses.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that it had eliminated more than 1.3 million Russian military personnel on Friday.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Dec. 18, 2024, that it had eliminated more than 1 million Ukrainian military personnel. However, the figure is outdated, and current casualty counts remain unclear.
Both Victory Day and the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II are important holidays for Russia and Ukraine, as the Soviet Union, which included both countries, suffered more than 24 million total civilian and military deaths in World War II, according to the National WWII Museum.
“Talks are continuing on ending this Major Conflict, the biggest since World War II, and we are getting closer and closer every day,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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