«We are ready for mirror steps». Zelensky reacted to Putin's ceasefire proposal
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an Easter ceasefire from 16:00 on April 11 until the end of April 12. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded that Ukraine had repeatedly proposed a ceasefire before — «and will act accordingly», writes Suspilne.
Photo by Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the Kremlin's statement at 00:10 on April 10.
«Ukraine has repeatedly stated that we are ready for mirror steps. We proposed a ceasefire for the Easter holidays this year and will act accordingly,» the president announced on social media.
Zelensky added that people need «Easter without threats and real movement towards peace» — and Russia has a chance not to return to strikes even after the holiday.
Prior to this, Zelensky himself had repeatedly made a similar proposal. On March 30, during a conversation with journalists, he stated that Ukraine was ready to establish a ceasefire with the Russian Federation for the period of the Easter holidays.
On March 31, Zelensky announced that Ukraine had proposed to Russia to introduce a ceasefire regime for the Easter holidays and was awaiting a response. He noted that Kyiv also counted on the support of this initiative from the United States.
The Kremlin then stated that the Ukrainian president's words about an «Easter ceasefire» did not contain a clear proposal. They also claimed that Moscow allegedly wanted «peace,» not a temporary cessation of hostilities.
On April 2, during a conversation with journalists, Zelensky stated that Ukraine had handed over a proposal for an Easter ceasefire to the United States.
«We all saw their [Russia's] response in the media space: they are allegedly not ready for this. I don't know how serious this response is. We handed over our request to the American side. I don't know if they will have the opportunity to convey their message to the "Russians." We'll see. Our proposal for an Easter ceasefire remains,» the President of Ukraine said then.
On April 8, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhiy stated that Ukraine was ready for an Easter ceasefire.
«We confirm Ukraine's readiness for an Easter ceasefire. It remains in force. And for an energy ceasefire. If Russia stops striking, then Ukraine is also ready to mirror,» he said, adding that the Middle East has demonstrated that such agreements can work, «even with regimes like the Iranian one.»
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