This article was originally published in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Read the original article.

US President Donald Trump announced a three-day cease-fire in the war between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides quickly confirming they had agreed to the truce along with a major prisoner swap.

“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine. The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II,” Trump posted on Truth Social on May 8.

He added that the truce will include “suspension of all Kinetic activity” and asserted that negotiations are ongoing to end the conflict, which became a full-scale war with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” Trump added.

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"Talks are continuing on ending this Major Conflict, the biggest since World War II, and we are getting closer and closer every day."

Prisoner Swap Included, Trump Says

Trump said the cease-fire would include a swap of 1,000 prisoners from each side of the conflict. Russia and Ukraine have carried out a number of such exchanges throughout the conflict, although often at a lower scale.

Zelenskyy in a Telegram post confirmed he had agreed to a prisoner swap and said the three-day "cease-fire regime must also be established." He said he had ordered his military not to attack Red Square during the May 9 Victory Day military parade.

"I hereby decree: to permit the holding of a ‌parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation) on May 9, 2026," Zelenskyy said in the decree, adding that "the territorial ‌sector of ⁠Red Square shall ‌be excluded" from any plan to use Ukrainian weapons.

Putin aide Yury Ushakov followed with a statement saying that Russia had agreed to the three-day cease-fire and the exchange of prisoners.

Earlier, it had appeared that a Kremlin-proposed cease-fire to mark Victory Day had collapsed within hours of its planned start, as Ukraine and Russia reported hundreds of violations a day before the scaled-down military parade in Moscow.

Ukraine's Air Forces reported 67 Russian drones had attacked the country overnight, as Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said the key eastern region was attacked at least 30 times "with drones, artillery, and a missile."

Hanzha reported that the strikes injured three people. "More than 10 private homes and vehicles were damaged," he added.

Zelenskyy promised that "Ukraine will respond in kind," for the strikes.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry reported it shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones and six of its domestically made Neptune cruise missiles.

User-generated footage shared on Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels showed pillars of smoke rising in Russia's Rostov, Yaroslavl, Perm, and Chechnya regions.

Local authorities in Russia's Rostov and Perm regions confirmed the strikes, while Zelenskyy shared footage that he said showed a fire at an oil facility in Yaroslavl. It "played a major role in financing Russia's war," he said.

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Separately, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also reported Ukrainian strikes, saying the latest attack on the capital was "one of the largest" so far in 2026.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it "responded in kind to violations of the cease-fire and carried out retaliatory strikes."

Days earlier, Moscow urged foreign governments to evacuate diplomats and citizens from Kyiv, warning that its military would strike the city hard if Ukraine targets Moscow on the "sacred holiday."

Speaking to Current Time ahead of Victory Day, Kyiv residents -- grown accustomed to the constant danger of devastating Russian strikes -- said they doubted Moscow's potential response would be anything new.

"I don't consider it serious," one man said. "The war has been going on for four years already, and strikes, including on central Kyiv, as well as massive attacks, have happened before,"

"Are you joking?" another woman asked, adding that there was "absolutely nothing" that could scare her, as she was originally from Kherson and had lived in Odesa -- two southern Ukrainian cities that have long been among the most frequent targets of Russian missile and drone attacks.

Others, however, said Victory Day could be an opportunity for at least a temporary pause in the fighting.

"In my opinion, May 9 is still a shared holiday," said one older woman in the Ukrainian capital. "Our people died too…there should be some kind of silence. We should honor the memory."

The Kremlin had unilaterally declared a cease-fire with Ukraine on May 8-9, to coincide with Russia's celebration of Victory Day with military parade on Moscow's Red Square.

Kyiv rejected the move and countered with its own cease-fire that had been set to run from May 6, proposing a more lasting truce to end the war.

"If the one person in Moscow who cannot live without war cares only about one parade and nothing else, that's a different story," Zelenskyy said on May 6.

Under Putin, Victory Day has become one of the year's most important events, a grandiose celebration of Soviet and Russian military history, as well as Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

This year, however, military equipment will reportedly be absent from the traditional parade, and, so far, only around 10 dignitaries are expected to turn up, including Putin's longtime ally, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko.

On May 8, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry confirmed President Qasym-Dzhomart Toqaev's attendance at the Victory Day events in Moscow, while Uzbekistan said President Shavkat Mirziyoev would also be attending.

According to Zelenskyy, some leaders reached out to Kyiv, saying their officials plan to attend the parade. "An odd desire…these days. We don't recommend it," he had said prior to his latest remarks in which he vowed no attacks on the parade site.

Earlier in the week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced additional measures were being taken due to "the rather complex operational situation" arising from what he called the "terrorist threat" from Ukraine.

Copyright (c)2025 RFE/RL, Inc. Used with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 

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