Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that his country stood by its offer to observe a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Russia, while the Kremlin had made no response to the proposal.
“Ukraine’s proposal to cease strikes and establish at least a 30-day ceasefire remains in force,” Zelenskiy said in a nightly video address. “We are not withdrawing this proposal, which could give diplomacy a chance.”
Zelenskiy also appeared to acknowledge the numerous drone attacks that have been targeting Russian sites, including the city of Moscow, as the World War Two commemorations approached.
“It is fair that Russian skies, the skies of the aggressor, are also not calm today, in a mirror-like way,” he said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia had observed a separate 30-day moratorium on attacks on energy sites and had also observed a ceasefire to coincide with the observance of Orthodox Easter last month.
“The only obstacle to the ceasefire is Kyiv, which violates agreements and is unwilling to seriously discuss the terms of a long-term ceasefire,” Zakharova said in response to comments by US envoy Keith Kellogg.
“Russia has never been opposed to a ceasefire. All the more so, we have done this twice,” Zakharova said in a comment posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website.
