Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a three-day cease-fire in the Ukraine war to coincide with the annual celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Ukraine's foreign minister suggested the call, announced by the Kremlin on April 28, was disingenuous, and proposed a cease-fire beginning immediately.
It's the second time in the month that the Kremlin has called for halt to fighting. A proposal for the Easter holiday earlier this month was largely ignored as Russia and Ukraine continued to batter one another, including a recent series of massive air attacks by Moscow across Ukraine.
Highlighting the strikes, which have killed several civilians, including children, family and friends gathered on April 28 at a funeral for 17-year-old Danylo Khudia, who died in a Russian strike on Kyiv four days earlier. The funeral was also a remembrance for Khudia's parents, who were among at least 12 people killed in the attack.
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Funeral Held For Teenager, Parents Killed in Russian Strike On Kyiv
The cease-fire would coincide with Victory Day, one of Russia's -- and Ukraine's -- most-revered annual observances. May 9 marks the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
As he has every year of his presidency, Putin will preside over a Red Square military parade that celebrates the Soviet role in defeating Germany. In recent years, he has used the occasion to whitewash Soviet and Russian history, while also bashing the West.
Responding to the Kremlin proposal, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called for a cease-fire to begin immediately.
"Why wait until May 8? If the fire can be ceased now and since any date for 30 days-- so it is real, not just for a parade," he said in a post to X. " Ukraine is ready to support a lasting, durable, and full cease-fire. And this is what we are constantly proposing, for at least 30 days."
The celebration occurs as the Russian invasion of Ukraine -- now the largest land war in Europe since World War II -- continues unabated in its fourth year. Russia's casualties, killed or wounded, now total more than all the casualties it suffered in all the conflicts it has fought since 1945.
SEE ALSO: So What Did Putin and Trump Agree On? A Partial Ukraine Cease-Fire, At Least.Efforts to reach a bilateral cease-fire, or even a broader peace deal, kicked into higher gear as US President Donald Trump took office in January, vowing to end fighting within 24 hours.
His predecessor, Joe Biden, refused to engage in substantive talks with Moscow so long as the invasion continued.
Though Trump has opened direct talks with Moscow, Russian officials have sought to broaden the negotiations to include not just the Ukraine conflict, but wider bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow.
Russia and Ukraine agreed on a limited cease-fire in March, but the two sides have continued to attack one another. On the battlefield, Russian forces have pressed their advantage -- in men and in weaponry -- to grind down Ukraine's troops.
SEE ALSO: Rubio Says Ukraine Peace Deal 'Closer' As Kyiv Calls For More Pressure On RussiaOver the weekend on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican, Trump had his face-to-face meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy since February, when Oval Office talks imploded in acrimony.
Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy had gone well, but he added that he thought Zelenskyy is ready to give up Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula to Russia as a concession -- something the Ukrainian leader has long stated he would never do.
Trump later called on Putin to "stop shooting" and agree to a peace deal.
"Well, I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal," Trump told reporters.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt echoed that assertion on April 28.
Trump "wants to see a permanent cease-fire. I understand Vladimir Putin, this morning, offered a temporary cease-fire," she said. "The president has made it clear he wants to see a permanent cease-fire first to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed."
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said his conversation with Trump represented a "very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results."
Experts say Putin has been dragging out talks because his forces have the momentum on the battlefield and a cease-fire at the current line of contact would leave him short of one of his main goals: fully capturing the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.
They add that ceding territory to Russia would be politically and constitutionally impossible for Zelenskyy. Ukrainian citizens and lawmakers appear strongly opposed to the idea.
SEE ALSO: Study Shows Russia 'Widening Gap' With Ukraine On Military SpendingUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end the Russian invasion was "closer."
Russia and Ukraine "are closer in general than they have been anytime in the last three years, but it's still not there," Rubio said in an interview with NBC News broadcast on April 27.
But Trump's critique of Putin also came shortly after he made his most definitive statement to date about the need for Ukraine to cede territory.
He said in a Time magazine interview published on April 25 that "Crimea will stay with Russia."
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'Crimea Is Ukraine': Kyiv Residents React To Possible US Recognition Of Russian Claim
Russia wants any peace deal to recognize its control of nearly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea. It also wants Ukraine to be de-militarized and kept out of NATO. Moscow has also rejected Kyiv's demand for a Western peacekeeping force to monitor any cease-fire agreement.
European officials and US Democrats have pushed back against some US proposals.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on April 27 said Kyiv should not agree to US proposals that would include giving up land to Russia.
Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said it would be a mistake for the United States to consider the possibility of recognizing the occupied Crimea as Russian territory as part of a peace agreement.
"Crimea is Ukraine," Kallas said, adding the EU will never recognize the peninsula as part of Russia.