Ukraine ready for ceasefire starting May 7 if it lasts 30 days — Zelenskyy

He said this while speaking with journalists, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

“An unconditional ceasefire is the model proposed by the Americans. We are following it. Whether it starts from this date or another—preferably sooner. Yes, let’s try for 30 days. Why a 30-day ceasefire? Because it’s impossible to agree on anything in three, five, or seven days,” Zelenskyy said.

He believes that Putin’s proposals are connected to the fact that he is pretending to respond to signals sent by the United States through the special envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump, Steven Witkoff.

“This is more of a theatrical performance on his part. Because in two or three days, it’s impossible to develop any plan for the next steps to end the war. And so it just doesn’t look very serious, or rather, it looks very unserious. It’s just playing around to create a soft atmosphere for Putin to come out of isolation on May 9, and to make it comfortable and safe for those leaders, friends, or partners of Putin who, for one reason or another, will come to Red Square on May 9. No one will help Putin. We are either at war, or Putin shows that he is ready for a ceasefire, for the first stage of ending the war. We are ready to start from the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th. If he needs the 7th as a date—it doesn’t matter to us. From the 7th—30 days,” the President of Ukraine added.

Zelenskyy noted that if Russia is truly ready to talk about a real ceasefire, “then we should support the American strategy and agree to a 30-day ceasefire.” “The issue is that they kill you until the 7th, then on the 7th they create two or three comfortable days for themselves, and then on the 11th they attack us with missiles again. I just don’t see any real proposal in this,” the head of state added.

He also noted that complete silence cannot be achieved without proper monitoring.

“Nevertheless, if there is the will, then it should be stated: let’s do a month. Then we believe they are ready for the next steps. We have conveyed all our signals to the Americans, the British, the French. The Americans agree with us. At least the official position of the White House was that they understand these are just games on his part, not a serious conversation,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine cannot guarantee the safety of representatives of other countries during planned trips to Moscow for the May 9 parade, since the Russian side can independently take any actions against guests and blame Ukraine for it, and Ukraine, in turn, cannot be responsible for what happens in Russia, the President of Ukraine noted.

“Our position is very simple for all countries that have traveled or are traveling on May 9: we cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation. They provide your security, and therefore we will not give you any guarantees. Because we do not know what Russia will do on those dates. They can take various steps on their side: arson, explosions, and so on. And then blame us. As president, I believe, and I told the foreign minister, that we should tell people who contact us: ‘We do not recommend, from a security point of view, visiting Russia. And if you do, don’t ask us. It’s your personal decision,’” Zelenskyy said.

According to him, Ukraine “behaves decently with China and with states that have not supported Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and who are balancing or sometimes leaning more towards the Russians due to historical ties.” “Nevertheless, this is not the first time that other countries have contacted us saying they are going to Russia and would like it to be safe at that time. There is such diplomacy, such a format of diplomacy. We treat other countries very carefully and respectfully and listen to what they ask and request from us,” the head of state noted.

“Ukraine definitely bears no responsibility for what is happening today in Russia. That’s a fact. We are responsible when we are here. Moreover, I am sure that other countries conduct the same diplomacy with the Russians when they come to us, and as experience shows, we have had many different leaders, and during their visits there have been various attacks, assaults, intimidation,” Zelenskyy added.

The President of Ukraine emphasizes the importance of monitoring the ceasefire if such an agreement is reached, as he is convinced that violations of the agreement will definitely occur.

“If there is a decision (on a ceasefire) for a month, then in the broad sense there will be no hot war for that month, but there will be violations 100%, not even 90%. But in the general sense of the war and the scale of the war as it is now, of course, it will not be the same. And everyone understands that the issue of monitoring needs to be resolved very quickly. Number one is the ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said while speaking with journalists.

• On April 28, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced a so-called truce for the days of the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II. Ukraine responded.