Russia and Ukraine traded allegations over the weekend that each had broken a three-day ceasefire brokered by the United States, casting further doubt on the diplomatic track to end the war.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening statement that Moscow was neither observing the truce nor “even particularly trying to,” despite what he described as a lull in large-scale attacks. He added that Ukraine had held back from long-range strikes for two days but was prepared to escalate if Russia did.
“Yesterday and today, Ukraine refrained from long-range retaliatory actions in response to the absence of large-scale Russian attacks,” Zelenskyy said. “We will continue to respond in the same mirrorlike manner, and if the Russians decide to return to full-scale warfare, our response will be immediate and significant.”
Ivan Fedorov, the head of Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, said one person was killed and three others wounded by Russian artillery and drone attacks over the previous 24 hours. Another 16 people were wounded in attacks across other regions of Ukraine, local officials reported.
Russia’s defense ministry disputed Ukraine’s account, claiming that Kyiv had committed more than 1,000 ceasefire violations, according to state media. The ministry said Ukrainian forces struck civilian targets inside Russia and Russian‑held territory, and attacked Russian military positions on the front line. “In response to these violations, the Russian military has responded in kind,” the ministry said.
In the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, two people were injured by Ukrainian shelling, the area’s Moscow-installed leader, Vladimir Saldo, said.
The ceasefire was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday. It was to run from Saturday through Monday to coincide with Victory Day, the Russian holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany. Trump said the truce would include a prisoner exchange and suggested it could be “the beginning of the end” of the war.
Zelenskyy, who had earlier remarked that Russian authorities “fear drones may buzz over Red Square” during Moscow’s May 9 parade, responded to Trump’s announcement by mockingly declaring Red Square temporarily off-limits for Ukrainian strikes. The Kremlin dismissed the comment as a “silly joke.”
On the diplomatic front, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said he expects U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, to visit Moscow “soon enough.” But Ushakov stressed that Russia would not move from its demand that Kyiv’s troops withdraw from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
“Until (Ukraine) takes that step, we can hold several more rounds, dozens of rounds (of negotiations), but we’ll be stuck in the same place,” Ushakov was cited by the state news agency Tass as saying.
Previous ceasefires, including one around Orthodox Easter, have failed to produce any lasting halt to the fighting. The war, now more than four years old, has seen repeated rounds of U.S.-led mediation stall amid entrenched positions on both sides.