Putin Declares 3-Day Ceasefire As Trump Pushes For End Of War

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that Russia would observe a three-day ceasefire with Ukraine from the start of May 8 to the end of May 10, citing “humanitarian” reasons and to commemorate the end of World War II.

Putin’s announcement comes as the Trump administration has put increasing pressure on both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to reach a deal to end the war. On Saturday, Trump met with Zelensky while in the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis. Meanwhile, his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Moscow on Friday to meet with Putin.

“By order of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the Russian side, guided by humanitarian motives, announces a ceasefire for the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War,” the Kremlin announced on Monday. “Any military operations will be ceased during this period.”

“Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example. In the event of any violations of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian side, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will give a proportionate and efficient response,” the Kremlin added. “The Russian side reiterates its willingness to enter peace talks without preconditions, with a view to eliminating the root causes behind the Ukraine crisis and establishing constructive interaction with international partners.”

Trump said Friday that Ukraine and Russia were “very close” to bringing the war to a close, calling for top leadership in the two countries to “finish off” a peace deal. He has been critical of both leaders in recent days, slamming Putin for continuing to launch air attacks into Ukraine and Zelensky for not signing a rare earth mineral deal with the United States.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump posted Saturday on Truth Social. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the coming week would be “critical” for the future of the negotiations.

“This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more, important in some cases, but we want to see it happen,” he said. “There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic, of course, as well. We’re close, but we’re not close enough.”