By Yurii Kovalenko and Vitalii Hnidyi
KYIV/KHARKIV, May 9 (Reuters) – Ukrainians welcomed a three-day ceasefire brokered by the U.S. as a much-needed break from years of attacks from Russia as it came into effect on Saturday, even though the Kremlin said a longer-term peace deal remained a long way off.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a three-day ceasefire from May 9 to May 11 and a prisoner swap and that he hoped for a “big extension”.
In Moscow, a scaled-back parade marking victory in World War Two passed off peacefully despite Russian warnings of a potential attack from Ukraine that it said would trigger a massive Russian strike on Kyiv.
Ukraine’s air force said some drones had been detected along the more than 1,000 km (600-mile) front line across southeastern Ukraine in the morning, but it did not report any air alerts for missiles across the country overnight and into Saturday.
“On the one hand, this is very good because, honestly, the sleepless nights have gotten a bit tiresome,” said Kateryna Kizev, who fled the frontline city of Kherson in the south and now lives in Cherkasy in central Ukraine.
“At least for a few days we will be able to sleep in peace and without the attacks,” the 22-year-old told Reuters at Kyiv’s Independence Square during a weekend visit to the capital.
KREMLIN SAYS A UKRAINIAN SETTLEMENT IS COMPLICATED
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has pummelled power plants and other infrastructure across Ukraine with missiles and drones while Kyiv has attacked Russia’s oil and gas production and export facilities.
Peace talks have stalled, with Ukraine rejecting Russia’s demands that it surrender territory it has successfully defended since it pushed Russian forces back from the capital early in the war.
“It is understandable that the American side is in a hurry,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.
“But the issue of a Ukrainian settlement is far too complex, and reaching a peace agreement is a very long way with complex details,” Peskov said.
The three-day Ukraine-Russia ceasefire would include a suspension of all “kinetic activity” and a swap of 1,000 prisoners of war from each side. There was no word on Saturday on when the exchange would take place.
“There were no strikes on the Red Square. Obviously, there was no massive retaliatory missile strike on Kyiv from us,” Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters.
Russia and Ukraine had each announced separate ceasefires – starting on Friday and Wednesday respectively – but quickly accused one another of breaking them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the truce was arranged as part of U.S. negotiating efforts and that humanitarian issues remained a key priority for Kyiv.
UKRAINE MARKS VICTORY DAY DIFFERENTLY
Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 and lost millions in World War Two, moved its commemorations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 to May 8 following Russia’s invasion.
But some Ukrainians who lost their relatives during World War Two bring flowers to the Soviet soldiers’ monuments on May 9.
“This ceasefire – for a day, or two or three – these are temporary measures. We need peace. It is the fifth year already. It is enough,” Oleksandr Boiko told Reuters in Kharkiv.
“I have lost everything… We need peace.”
Another Kharkiv resident, Ramaz Tsytsyashvili, said he hoped that the ceasefire would open the way for more talks to end the war.
“And perhaps there will be a miracle and this temporary silence, this ceasefire, will hold up a bit and continue, and then step by step it will move to negotiations, and affairs will be solved in offices, not on the battlefield.”
(Writing by Olena Harmash; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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