President Donald Trump announced Friday that Russian and Ukrainian leaders have agreed to a U.S.-mediated, three-day ceasefire from May 9–11 and a reciprocal exchange of 1,000 prisoners each. Trump said both President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “readily” agreed to his request and called the pause in fighting potentially the “beginning of the end” of the long war.
Trump first posted the timeline on social media, noting that May 9 is Victory Day in Russia, and said the ceasefire would include a suspension of all kinetic activity alongside the prisoner swap. Yuri Ushakov, an adviser to President Putin, and Zelenskyy both confirmed the arrangement.
Russia had previously announced a shorter ceasefire that quickly unraveled, and an earlier unilateral pause by Ukraine also collapsed amid mutual accusations of violations. Trump said he made his appeal directly to both leaders and that negotiations aimed at ending the conflict are ongoing.
Zelenskyy framed Ukraine’s willingness to participate in talks in part around the prospect of freeing Ukrainian prisoners of war, a central Ukrainian demand. “Red Square matters less to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war who can be brought home,” Zelenskyy wrote, and he issued a presidential decree authorizing Russia to hold its Victory Day parade without Ukrainian strikes on Red Square during the event.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed Zelenskyy’s decree as a “silly joke,” saying Russia does not need permission to mark Victory Day. Zelenskyy thanked Trump and the American team for their role and said Ukraine expects the United States to help ensure Russia honors the agreement.
Sen. Marco Rubio cautioned that U.S. mediation so far has not produced a “fruitful outcome,” saying talks have largely stagnated, though he added the U.S. remains ready to play a role if circumstances change. Zelenskyy said his team was preparing promptly for the prisoner exchange.