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Russia rejects Zelensky's ‘Easter truce’ offer, dismisses Ukrainian proposal as ‘PR stunt’
Zelensky said he would hold a video call with Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the possibility of further trilateral negotiations.
Russia has rejected a proposal for an Easter truce, calling it "yet another PR stunt" by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Zelensky's aim was "to replenish losses, regroup and prepare the Ukrainian armed forces for continued combat".
The remark comes after Zelensky said he would ask US mediators to convey to Russia Kyiv's Easter ceasefire offer for strikes on energy infrastructure. The Ukrainian leader argued that a mutual halt on strikes against energy sites will help ease a global oil crisis triggered by the US-Iran war.
Also Read: 'False and baseless': Iran rejects Trump's ceasefire claim as war escalates
Zelensky calls for ‘mutual halt’
Ukrainian President Zelensky on Monday urged Russia to agree to a mutual halt on strikes against energy sites to help ease a global oil crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East.
"If Russia is ready to stop hitting Ukrainian energy facilities, we will not respond against their energy sector," Zelensky said.
Zelensky has said he would hold a video call on Wednesday with US President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the possibility of further trilateral negotiations. The Ukrainian President said he would ask the US mediators to pass Kyiv's offer of an Easter ceasefire for strikes on energy infrastructure to Russia.
Following a ‘positive call’ with US envoys, Zelensky stated that a truce on Easter could signal to the world that diplomacy is working.
"Russia responds with 'Shaheds' (Iranian-designed drones) and continues its terrorist operations against our energy sector, against our infrastructure," the Ukrainian president said in his nightly video address, adidng that “silence over Easter is exactly the signal needed to show diplomacy is working.”
The US, Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of high-level, trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year to negotiate an end to the five-year conflict.
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A fourth round of talks due this month was postponed due to the Iran conflict, amid an ongoing deadlock over the vital question of territory in eastern Ukraine.
Russia claims control of Luhansk region
Russia's armed forces said they have taken control of the entire Luhansk region of Ukraine. However, the claim was denied by a Kyiv military official, who denied the claim as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared for talks with US envoys trying to mediate an end to Moscow's invasion.
"Units of the Group of Forces West have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People's Republic," the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Also Read: Trump claims Iran has asked for ceasefire: ‘Will consider when Strait of Hormuz is open’
While Russia's claims of battlefield progress have in the past shown discrepancies, Ukrainian officials have said that Moscow makes false claims of advances to persuade US negotiators that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable.
Russia annexed four eastern regions of Ukraine - Luhansk as well as Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - in September 2022, but it never fully controlled them.
