Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for an immediate month-long ceasefire after Vladimir Putin unilaterally announced athree-day trucefor next monthduring a second world war anniversary. The Ukrainian president said: “Now there’s a new attempt at manipulation. For some reason, everyone is supposed to wait for May 8 and only then have a ceasefire to ensure calm for Putin during the parade.” He added: “We value people’s lives and not parades. We believe that the world believes that there is no reason to wait for May 8. And the ceasefire should be not for a few days only to resume the killing afterward.” Ukrainian officials also pointed out that Russia announced a similar truce over the Easter period only to violate it. The Russian president suggested the ceasefire in May to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union in the second world war, and said Kyiv should follow Moscow’s example. If respected by both sides, it would mark the first full ceasefire since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.
A series of blasts were heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesdayafter Ukraine’s air force issued air raid alerts for the capital, a Reuters witness reported. Ukraine’s military said air defence systems were trying to repel an air attack.
Germany’s incoming chancellor,Friedrich Merz, has promised to put staunch support of Ukraineat the heart of his governmentafter announcing that a pro-Kyiv foreign policy expert andformer soldier will be the new foreign minister. Merz said that Johann Wadephul, a conservative MP who has long advised Merz on foreign policy, would become the new foreign minister. Wadephul has been a supporter of military backing forUkraineand recently told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper the war in Ukraine “is not about a few square kilometres in Ukraine but rather the fundamental question of whether we will allow a classic war of conquest in Europe”. Merz himself said Vladimir Putin’s invasion was nothing less than a battle “against the entire political order of the European continent”. Boris Pistorius, a social democrat who is widely expected to continue in the role as defence minister, said Donald Trump’s peace deal proposals were “akin to a capitulation”.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov the US is committed to working to end “this senseless war”, the state department said. “The United States is serious about facilitating an end to this senseless war,” state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a readout of Sunday’s call, which was already announced by Russia. She said Rubio spoke to Lavrov about “the next steps in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and the need to end the war now”. The call took place before Putin on Monday offered a three-day truce.
The Guardian’s Luke Harding has been reporting from frontline battles near Ukraine’s Oskil River. “Before the war, it was a place for recreation. Visitors would grill kebabs on its sandy beaches or go kayaking past a ridge of low chalk hills and a small national park. Now it is a zone of war, waged by drones, artillery and bombs. The Russians are trying to expand a slender bridgehead on the river’s right bank, near Dvorichna,” he writes. Read the full storyhere.