Ukrainians see the Russian silence as a sideshow

From Russia he is expected to start a self -proclaimed three -day break in fighting Ukraine on Wednesday evening, in a movement that is discussed and described by many Ukrainians and described by President Volodymyr Zensky as little more than a “theatrical show”.

The Russian Vladimir Putin presented the three-day ceasefires to coincide with the birthday of the end of the Second World War in Europe-a holiday in Russia on Friday known as Victory Day.

But in addition, Putin has rejected a much substantial proposal from the Trump administration for a cease-fire and negotiations of 30 days of one proposal accepted by Ukraine.

Zensky, in turn, has rejected the Russian one-sided three-day ceasefire and said that Ukraine will not guarantee the safety of a festive military parade on the red square of Moscow on 9 May.

The Russian proposal was received with widespread cynicism in Ukraine, where polls consistently suggest that about 95% of the population distrusts Russia.

“I don’t believe there will be a ceasefire,” said Tetyana Kondratenko, 42, a shopkeeper in the village of Khotin in Sumy, a heavily bombed region at about six miles (10 km) of the Russian border.

“Recently the shelling has only been intensified, for the half day today we have heard Boom after Boom,” said Mrs. Kondratenko in a telephone interview.

Zensky was right to reject the proposal “because you know how they work, such as what happened at Easter,” she added, referring to the Russians.

“They announced a ceasefire -then used it to get more equipment and started to attack again. What ceases -the fire is that?”

Last month, around Easter, Russia suggested a similar stopping of 30 hours in hostilities, but was later accused by Ukraine of violating his own ceasefire nearly 3000 times.

On that occasion, instead of rejecting the proposal, Ukraine said that it would reflect the actions of Russia.

A Senior Ukrainian military officer told the BBC at the time that front line units were ordered to stop shooting in Russian positions, but to register proof of Russian violations and to return fire if necessary.

By Wednesday, Ukrainian officials had not categorically said whether they would adjust their military action during the three -day period. When asked if Ukrainian armed forces were planning to continue military operations, a source in the presidential office told the BBC: “We will see.”

From the village of Novosofiivka, in the very poorly hit region of Zaporizhia, Antonina Sienina, 35, said that each ceases -it is worth agreing to agree with “solid guarantees” for the safety and sovereignty of Ukraine -not included in the plan of poetin for Poetin for Poetin for Poetin’s plan.

But Mrs. Sienina had mixed feelings. Her parents were killed in a Russian strike, her brother was injured and her village was voted, so “maybe it was not good to refuse the three -day proposal,” she added.

“Because, frankly, we would only be happy for one day without explosions. To take the children somewhere, to a shopping center, to a playground, to some attractions,” she said.

“We dream that the war is over, or at least a temporary stop -the fire, because my children are exhausted. The nerves, the medicines, the sleepless nights. It’s too much.”

Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kiev were woken up by Russian drone and rocket attacks on the city in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A ballistic rocket was successfully shot by air defense systems, but a drone hit a block of flats, killing a mother and her son and was injured at least six, including a child.

The mayor of Moscow said on Wednesday that Russian air defenses had fallen 14 Ukrainian drones at night. The Kremlin said that the drone attacks had no influence on his plans to pause for three days.

For the most part, the break is not taken seriously in Ukraine. It is greeted instead as a propaganda exercise. Pavlo Klimkin, the former Foreign Minister of Ukraine, told the BBC that it was just another Russian show of violence.

“This is all about Russia who encourages the agenda on its own conditions,” said Klimkin. “It has nothing to do with a real cease -it is all about messages -internal messages, messages for the US, messages to Europe to say that we, Russia, are in control.”

The conversations aimed at a substantial cessation -the -fire process started in February, where US President Donald Trump sent officials to negotiate separately with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine has since approved an American proposal for an unconditional cease-fire of 30 days, Russia does not have that.

The months since then have been a deadly period in the war. Russia has intensively focused on Ukrainian cities with drones and rockets, in which 19 people were killed, including nine children last month in a strike on a playground in Kryvyi Rih and 35 people a week later in an Easter strike in the city of Sumy.

According to the UN, at least 848 citizens were killed between 1 and 24 April – an increase of 46% compared to the same period last year.

The level of civilian deaths meant that every cease -fires, even on Russian conditions, had to be accepted, said Oleksii Kamchatnyi, 38, a scientist who lives in Kiev.

“It’s about saving lives,” said Mr Kamchatnyi. “I am originally from Donbas, from Pokrovsk. I have succeeded in evacuating my mother, but my father stayed there. I have not had any contact with him since March 9.”

Yet the Lord Kamchatnyi supported the temporary cease -the fire, he said, “Even if it means giving up territory.”

Ukrainian poll suggests that a majority of the public would accept the idea of ​​seizing any control over territory by the Russians during the full invasion, although it did not formal sovereignty over the country, according to Anton Grushetsky, director of the KYIV International Institute of Sociology.

“There is certainly a lot of fatigue and there is a lot of desire to have a stable peace in Ukraine,” said Mr Grushetsky.

But based on earlier polls, the majority of Ukrainians would probably consider the proposed three-day ceasefires to “a fall or just as a trick to prevent attacks on Moscow during the holidays,” he added.

There is also suspicion among many in Ukraine that the proposal of ceases -the fires is just a trick from Russia to move its forces to strategic places on the battlefield, to make reinforcements where necessary and to prepare for offensives.

Ukraine had already made it clear that it was ready for a complete, unconditional -the fire, and was not obliged to participate in the Russian agenda, said Mykhailo Samus, a Ukrainian military analyst and director of the new Geopolitics research network.

“Why would we play Putin’s game? We are ready for a real cease -the Fire,” said Mr. Samus. “If he wants to organize a parade to show that he is a great leader, that is his business.”

Daria Mitiuk has contributed to this report.