Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine from the start of May 8 through the end of May 10, timed to Moscow's Victory Day commemorations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy countered hours later with an offer to halt fighting at midnight on the night of May 5-6 and a renewed call for the immediate 30-day truce Washington has been pressing.
The rival declarations leave the Trump administration with two incompatible offers as Secretary of State Marco Rubio warns this may be its last week as mediator. Rubio told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday the week would be "very critical," and that Washington must "make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in."
The two offers
The Russian Defense Ministry, posting on the state-backed messaging app MAX, said the truce was ordered on "humanitarian grounds" and called on Ukraine to follow suit. It warned that any attempt to disrupt the 81st anniversary parade would draw a "massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv," and told civilians and foreign diplomats "of the need to leave the city promptly."
Zelenskyy, at a European Political Community summit in Yerevan, Armenia, said Kyiv had received no formal request from Moscow and would start its own ceasefire at 12 a.m. Wednesday, with no end date. He paired the offer with Ukraine's prior acceptance of President Trump's proposal for a full 30-day halt.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha rejected the Kremlin terms. "If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately," he said, adding: "Why wait for May 8? If we can cease fire now from any date and for 30 days — so that it is real, and not just for a parade."
A pared-down parade
Russia's May 9 parade on Red Square will run without tanks, missiles or other heavy equipment for the first time in nearly two decades, NPR reported, and authorities have begun cutting mobile internet service in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Officials cited the threat of Ukrainian drones striking deep inside Russia.
"They cannot afford military equipment – and they fear drones may buzz over Red Square," Zelenskyy said in Yerevan. "This is telling. It shows they are not strong now."
Putin first floated the Victory Day truce in a call with Trump last week. Trump said over the weekend he doubts Putin's sincerity after Russian strikes on civilian areas; on Friday he had called a settlement "close."
The mediator's clock
Putin has refused a full unconditional ceasefire, conditioning it on a halt to Western arms supplies and Ukrainian mobilization. A 30-hour Easter pause and a 30-day moratorium on energy-infrastructure strikes both collapsed amid mutual accusations of violations along a line of contact of more than 1,000 kilometers, or about 600 miles.
Fox News framed the Kremlin statement as a goodwill gesture, noting that "All military actions are suspended for this period." NPR and Al Jazeera stressed the threat embedded in the same statement. Western European officials cited by the Associated Press accused the Kremlin of stalling to let Russian forces, which hold battlefield momentum, take more land.
The next test arrives at midnight Tuesday into Wednesday, when Zelenskyy says Ukraine will stop firing and watch what Moscow does.