Ukraine stands by offer of 30-day ceasefire: Zelenskiy
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says his country has stood by its offer to observe a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Russia, while the Kremlin had made no response to the proposal.
A spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, rejected any suggestion that Moscow had opposed or was hindering efforts to introduce a ceasefire.
Both were speaking on Wednesday hours before a three-day ceasefire proposed by Russia was to go into effect to mark the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
"Ukraine's proposal to cease strikes and establish at least a 30-day ceasefire remains in force," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
"We are not withdrawing this proposal, which could give diplomacy a chance."
Zelenskiy also appeared to acknowledge the numerous drone attacks that have been targeting Russian sites, including the city of Moscow, as the World War II commemorations approached.
"It is absolutely fair that Russian skies, the skies of the aggressor, are also not calm today, in a mirror-like way," he said.
Russia, he said, had made no response to the 30-day offer "except for new strikes. This clearly and obviously demonstrates to everyone who the source of the war is".
The US proposed the 30-day ceasefire in March and Ukraine agreed. Russia has said such a measure could only be introduced after mechanisms to enforce and uphold it are put in place.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia had observed a separate 30-day moratorium on attacks on energy sites and had also observed a ceasefire to coincide with the observance of Orthodox Easter in April.
"The only obstacle to the ceasefire is Kyiv, which violates agreements and is unwilling to seriously discuss the terms of a long-term ceasefire," Zakharova said in response to comments by US envoy Keith Kellogg.
"Russia has never been opposed to a ceasefire. All the more so, we have done this twice," Zakharova said in a comment posted on the Foreign Ministry's website.
"Having Kyiv observe them could have been a step towards a long-term ceasefire. Unfortunately, Kyiv sabotaged both. The Ukrainian military violated the moratorium 135 times and the Easter ceasefire nearly 5000 times."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
Israel orders Greta Thunberg be shown October 7 video while in detention
US President Donald Trump dismissed the statement: 'I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg,' he said. 'She's a young, angry person ... I think she has to go to an anger management class.' He made a similar remark about the then 16-year-old activist in 2019. Israel has dismissed the aid ship as a stunt, with its Foreign Ministry labelling the boat 'the selfie yacht'. Officials said the flotilla carried what amounted to less than a truckload of aid. 'This wasn't humanitarian aid. It's Instagram activism,' Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said. Israel said the aid on board would be sent to Gaza through established channels, and circulated footage of what appeared to be Israeli military personnel offering sandwiches and water to the activists, who were wearing life vests. It also published a photo of Thunberg on social media after she disembarked. After an 11-week total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers and experts say it is not enough and have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive. The United Nations said on Monday that it has only been able to bring minimal flour into Gaza and most aid has been looted by armed gangs or taken by starving Palestinians. Loading Palestinians also said Israeli forces and local gunmen working near the soldiers had fired on Monday towards a crowd heading to a new Israeli-backed aid distribution centre in the Gaza Strip, with Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry and local hospitals saying 14 people were killed. Dozens of people have died in shootings over the past two weeks while attempting to get aid from new centres run by a controversial new aid group backed by the US and Israel, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to work with the group, citing humanitarian concerns. Thunberg and the other activists were expected to be held at a detention facility in the city of Ramle before being deported, according to Adalah, a legal rights group representing them, which said that Israel had no legal authority to take over the ship and it breached international law. An attempt by Freedom Flotilla last month to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group's vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta, organisers said. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the ship's front section. Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, was among the volunteers on board the latest boat to be intercepted. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. She was among six French citizens aboard. French President Emmanuel Macron asked Israel to allow them to return to France as soon as possible, his office said in a statement. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the crew and passengers were aware of the risks and that her ministry has advised against travel to Gaza for a decade and people who disregard that have a clear personal responsibility, Swedish news agency TT reported. Stenergard said the ministry's assessment was that no one on board was in danger and there was no need for consular support. Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's Palestinian population. Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, but later relented under US pressure. In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine. Hamas-led militants killed about 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas still holds 55 hostages, more than half are believed to be dead. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said that women and children make up most of the dead. Loading The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of the population, leaving people almost completely dependent on international aid. Efforts to broker another truce have been deadlocked for months. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated, or disarmed and exiled.
West Australian
4 hours ago
- West Australian
Donald Trump takes aim at ‘angry' Greta Thunberg's claim she was kidnapped by Israeli forces
Donald Trump has unleashed on Greta Thunberg after her so-called 'Freedom Flotilla' loaded with humanitarian aid was seized by Israeli commandos as it tried to break through a blockade of Gaza. The US President said the notorious activist needed to go to an 'anger management' class. Ms Thunberg, 22, is being held in an Israeli detention camp with a number of others where they will be held until they face court, according to her lawyer. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has said that passengers on what it calls the 'Selfie Yacht' will be returned to their home countries. Anyone who refused to sign deportation documents and leave Israel would be brought before a judicial authority. Mr Trump was clearly unimpressed with Ms Thunberg's claim she had been 'kidnapped' when asked about the incident. 'Well, she's a strange person,' Mr Trump said. 'She's a young, angry person. I don't know if it's real anger – it's hard to believe actually. But I saw what happened. She's certainly different. Anger management. I think she has to go to an anger management class. That's my primary recommendation for her. 'She said she was kidnapped by Israel? I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg,' Mr Trump said. Ms Thunberg was on board a vessel named Madleen, which was planning to deliver aid to people in Gaza after setting sail from Sicily, when Israeli forces boarded it. In a video released after her arrest Ms Thunberg said: 'My name is Greta Thunberg, and I am from Sweden. If you see this video, we are being intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel,' the Swedish activist said. After being taken into custody Ms Thunberg and other activists refused to watch a 45-minute video of the Hamas atrocities committed during the October 7, 2023 attack. 'Greta (Thunberg) and her flotilla companions were taken into a room upon their arrival for a screening of the horror film of the October 7 massacre, and when they saw what it was about, they refused to continue watching,' Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said. 'The antisemitic flotilla members are turning a blind eye to the truth and have proven once again that they prefer the murderers to the murdered and continue to ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas against Jewish and Israeli women, adults, and children,' he added. David Mencer, a spokesperson fro the Israeli government, said Thunberg's actions were 'publicity stunt', more about raising her profile than providing aid to Palestinians. 'Greta wasn't bringing aid, she was bringing herself,' he said. 'And she's not here for Gaza; let's be blunt about it, she's here for Greta. 'She's alienated half the world with her crying wolf and now she's looking for her next bandwagon. This was a PR stunt sailing under the flag of moral vanity.'
7NEWS
4 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Elon Musk's dad reveals reason for public spat with Donald Trump
The row between Donald Trump and Elon Musk was triggered by months of intense stress on both sides, and the public battle between the US president and the billionaire donor needs to stop, Musk's father says. Trump and Musk began exchanging insults last week on social media, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO describing the president's sweeping tax and spending bill as a 'disgusting abomination'. Asked whether he thought his son had made a mistake by engaging in a public row with the president, Errol Musk said people were sometimes unable to think as clearly as they should 'in the heat of the moment'. 'They've had five months of intense stress,' Musk told Reuters at a conference in Moscow organised by conservative Russian tycoons. 'With all the opposition cleared and two people left in the arena, all they have ever done is get rid of everything and now they are trying to get rid of each other - well that has to stop.' Asked how it would end, he said: 'Oh, it will end on a good note - very soon.' Neither the White House nor Musk could be reached for comment outside normal US business hours. Trump said on Saturday his relationship with Musk was over and warned there would be 'serious consequences' if Musk decided to fund US Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the tax and spending bill. Musk bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head an effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. Musk's father told reporters he was standing by his son. 'Elon is sticking to his principles but you cannot always stick to your principles in the real world,' Musk's father said. 'Sometimes you have to give and take.' Speaking beside sanctioned Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev, Musk's father praised President Vladimir Putin as a 'very stable and pleasant man'. He accused 'fake media' in the West of projecting 'complete nonsense' about Russia and of casting it as an enemy.
