KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia struck northeastern Ukraine on Thursday in the opening hours of a 72-hour ceasefire called by Russian President Vladimir Putin, killing one person, Ukrainian officials said.
The unilateral ceasefire coincides with the celebrations in Moscow for the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Russia’s biggest secular holiday. Kyiv has pressed for a longer-term ceasefire.
Putin on Thursday welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kremlin. Xi, who Putin earlier described as “our main guest” at Friday’s Victory Day festivities, arrived in Russia on Wednesday for a four-day visit.
Russian forces dropped guided air bombs on residential areas near the border in the northeast Sumy region, killing one and wounded two people, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Ukraine’s air force also said at least one missile hit the Sumy region until early morning on Thursday.
Large-scale missile and drone attacks, which have been a near-daily occurrence in Ukraine in recent weeks, were not recorded since 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, the air force said. Smaller-scale Russian attacks persisted elsewhere in the country closer to the front line, causing civilian casualties, it said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cast doubt on the ceasefire, calling it “manipulation” as U.S.-led peace efforts stalled. “For some reason, everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,” Zelenskyy said.
In March, the United States proposed a 30-day truce in the war, which Ukraine accepted, but the Kremlin has held out for ceasefire terms more to its liking.
In Russia, officials said that the regions of Belgorod, Lipetsk, Orenburg, Ryazan and Tambov came under a drone threat alert overnight, but there were no reports of any drones being shot down or intercepted. Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia also briefly imposed restrictions on flights to and from the airport in Nizhny Novgorod.
In welcoming Xi, Putin said that “the brotherhood of arms between our peoples, which developed during the harsh war years, is one of the fundamental foundations of modern Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.”
He added that Moscow and Beijing were developing ties “for the benefit of the peoples of both countries and not against anyone.”
Xi, in turn, said that “history and reality have fully proved that the continuous development and deepening of China-Russia relations is a necessity for the friendship between the two peoples from generation to generation.” He also called for safeguarding “international fairness and justice.”
Putin and Xi have met over 40 times and developed strong personal ties that bolstered the countries’ “strategic partnership” as both face tensions with the West.
China has offered robust diplomatic support to Moscow after its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has emerged as a top market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin’s war coffers. Russia has relied on China as the main source of machinery and electronics to keep its military machine running after Western sanctions curtailed high-tech supplies.
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