(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that the world did not want to wait until May 8 for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s announced ceasefire in the more than three-year-old war only to be in effect for a few days.
“For some reason, everyone is supposed to wait for May 8 and only then have a cease fire to ensure calm for Putin during the parade,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“We value people’s lives and not parades. We believe that the world believes that there is no reason to wait for May 8. And the cease fire should be not for a few days only to resume the killing afterward.”
Zelenskiy called for a “full and unconditional cease fire for at least 30 days” to provide “a basis for real diplomacy”.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Editing by Franklin Paul)
