Trump says Russia, Ukraine agree to 3-day ceasefire, prisoner swap
President Donald Trump said Friday that Russia and Ukraine had accepted his call for a three-day ceasefire and a prisoner swap, casting the limited pause as a possible first step toward ending a war that has dragged on...
By DARLENE SUPERVILLESaturday May 9, 2026
President Donald Trump said Friday that Russia and Ukraine had accepted his call for a three-day ceasefire and a prisoner swap, casting the limited pause as a possible first step toward ending a war that has dragged on for years.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, both said the arrangement had been agreed to.
“I asked and, President Putin agreed. President Zelenskyy agreed — both readily,” Trump said as he left the White House for a dinner at his Virginia golf club. ” And we have a little period of time where they’re not going to be killing people. That’s very good ”
Earlier Friday, Trump posted on social media that the ceasefire would begin Saturday and run through Monday. Saturday marks Victory Day in Russia, the annual commemoration of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote. “The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II.”
The Republican president said the truce would suspend all kinetic activity and include the release of 1,000 prisoners from each side.
Russia had already declared its own ceasefire for Friday and Saturday, but it quickly fell apart, with Moscow and Kyiv each accusing the other of keeping the fighting alive, much like the collapse of Ukraine’s unilateral ceasefire earlier in the week.
Trump said he made the appeal “directly” to both leaders. “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” he said.
He added that negotiations remain underway to end the conflict that began in February 2022, saying “we are getting closer and closer every day.” Trump has repeatedly shifted his outlook on the war, at times sounding hopeful and at others arguing that Russia and Ukraine should be left to battle on until the end.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s approach to the talks was shaped in part by the chance to recover its prisoners, a priority Kyiv has pressed throughout the war.
“Red Square matters less to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war who can be brought home,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Red Square is the site of Russia’s traditional Victory Day military parade, one of the country’s most important annual celebrations.
After posting that message, Zelenskyy issued a formal presidential decree “authorizing” Russia to stage the parade and saying Red Square would be off-limits for Ukrainian strikes during the event. The move appeared intended to reinforce Kyiv’s assertion that it has the ability to reach Moscow while publicly linking restraint to the ceasefire terms.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the decree as a “silly joke.”
“We don’t need anyone’s permission to be proud of our Victory Day,” Peskov told reporters.
Zelenskyy said the ceasefire agreement emerged through a U.S.-mediated process and thanked Trump and the American team for what he described as effective diplomacy. He said Ukraine expected Washington to ensure Russia honored the terms.
“We are counting on the United States to ensure that Russia fulfills its commitments,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said he had directed his team to prepare immediately for the prisoner exchange.
Trump’s announcement came hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a far more cautious view of efforts to stop Russia’s 4-year-old war in Ukraine, saying U.S. mediation had not produced a “fruitful outcome” so far.
“While we’re prepared to play whatever role we can to bring it to a peaceful diplomatic resolution, unfortunately right now, those efforts have stagnated,” Rubio told reporters at the end of a visit to Rome and the Vatican. “But we always stand ready if those circumstances change.”
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Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.