The Kremlin rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's call for a 30-day ceasefire after the Ukrainian leader criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a three-day pause in the war in Ukraine to coincide with the annual Victory Day celebrations in Moscow.
The ceasefire proposed by Russia would take place from May 8 to 10, when Russia marks the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Zelensky questioned the need to wait until then for a ceasefire, saying it was a move "just to provide Putin with silence for his parade."
"We value human lives, not parades," Zelensky said in his evening address, proposing an "immediate, complete and unconditional" ceasefire for 30 days.
A proposal from the United States for an unconditional ceasefire, to which Ukraine had agreed, also remains an option, Zelensky reiterated.
"Russia knows exactly what it needs to do and how to respond: to honestly stop the attacks," he said.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister said earlier that the Kremlin's announcement on April 28 was disingenuous and that the ceasefire should begin immediately.
Russia's response on April 29, however, was to reject the longer "immediate" ceasefire, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that some issues needed to be resolved first.
"Without answers to these questions, it is difficult to enter into a long-term ceasefire," he said.
Putin has previously stated, during negotiations over the American proposal, that the plan should contain clauses prohibiting Ukraine from using the pause to regroup and arm itself, as well as a ban on Western arms supplies to Kiev. He has offered no compromises on Russia's part in return.
It is the second time this month that the Kremlin has called for a ceasefire. A proposal for an Easter holiday earlier this month was largely ignored as Russia and Ukraine continued to strike each other.
As he has done every year during his presidency, Putin will lead a military parade in Red Square on May 9, Victory Day, celebrating the Soviet role in defeating Germany. In recent years, he has used the occasion to praise Soviet and Russian history while criticizing the West.
The celebration comes as the Russian invasion of Ukraine — already the largest land war in Europe since World War II — continues unabated into its fourth year. Russia's losses, in killed and wounded, are now believed to be greater than all the losses it has suffered in all the conflicts it has fought since 1945.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense units destroyed 51 Ukrainian drones in less than three hours on the evening of April 28. A statement from the ministry posted on Telegram said its units had destroyed 40 drones over the western Kursk region. Other drones were destroyed over the central Oryol region and Belgorod in the south, as well as over the Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea.
Efforts to reach a bilateral ceasefire or a broader peace agreement accelerated after US President Donald Trump took office in January, promising to end the war within 24 hours.
His predecessor, Joe Biden, refused to engage in deep talks with Moscow as long as the occupation continues.
Although Trump has opened direct talks with Moscow, Russian officials have sought to broaden the negotiations to include not only the conflict in Ukraine but also the broader bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a limited ceasefire in March, but both sides have continued to attack each other. On the battlefield, Russian forces have used their superiority in numbers and weapons to wear down Ukrainian troops.
Over the weekend, on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral at the Vatican, Trump had his first face-to-face meeting with Zelensky since February, when talks in the Oval Office broke down amid tensions.
Trump said the meeting had gone well, but added that he thought Zelensky was willing to hand over Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula to Russia as a compromise - something the Ukrainian leader has long stated he would never do.
Later, Trump called on Putin to "cease fire" and accept a peace deal.
White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt reinforced this statement on April 28.
“Trump wants to see a permanent ceasefire. I understand that Vladimir Putin, this morning, offered a temporary ceasefire,” she said. “The president has made it clear that he wants to see a permanent ceasefire to stop the killing, to stop the bloodshed.”
Experts say Putin is dragging out the negotiation process because his forces have the upper hand on the battlefield and a ceasefire on the current line of contact would leave him without achieving one of his main goals: the complete occupation of the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.
They add that handing over the territory to Russia would be politically and constitutionally impossible for Zelensky. Ukrainian citizens and lawmakers appear to be strongly opposed to the idea.
Russia wants any peace deal to recognize its control over almost 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea. It also wants Ukraine to disarm and be kept out of NATO. Moscow has also rejected Kiev's request for a Western peacekeeping force to monitor any ceasefire agreement./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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