Russia declares a 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine for next week to mark Victory Day in World War II

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire next week in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II as the U.S. presses for a deal to end the 3-year-old war. Kyiv insisted on a longer and immediate truce.

The Kremlin said the truce, ordered on “humanitarian grounds,” will run from the start of May 8 and last through the end of May 10 to mark Moscow's defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 — Russia's biggest secular holiday.

Ukraine, which has previously agreed to U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal of a full 30-day ceasefire, dismissed Putin's move as window dressing.

“If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, according to the ministry. He emphasized that Kyiv is ready for a “lasting, reliable, and complete ceasefire” for at least 30 full days.

“Why wait for May 8? If we can cease fire now from any date and for 30 days — so that it is real, and not just for a parade,” he said without specifying whether Ukraine would be ready to accept the Moscow-proposed truce.

The Kremlin had urged Ukraine to follow suit.

“Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example,” it said, warning that “in case of violations of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian side, the Russian armed forces will give an adequate and efficient response."

Putin previously announced a unilateral 30-hour Easter ceasefire and Ukraine voiced readiness to reciprocate any genuine truce at the time, but it said Russian attacks continued. Moscow, in turn, accused Ukraine of failing to halt its attacks.

Russia and Ukraine had also earlier pledged to observe a 30-day halt on strikes on energy infrastructure that was brokered by the Trump administration, but they repeatedly accused each other of massive violations until the measure expired.

The truce attempts underlined the massive challenges for monitoring any possible halt to hostilities along the more than 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) line of contact.

Up until now, Putin had refused to accept a complete unconditional ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies to Ukraine and Ukraine’s mobilization effort.

The Kremlin reaffirmed that “the Russian side again declares its readiness for peace talks without preconditions aimed at removing the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and constructive cooperation with international partners.”

Ukrainians in Kyiv scoffed at Putin's move.

“There is no trust in any of Putin’s proposals," said Nazar Lutsenko, a lawyer. He added that “we absolutely want the war to end on terms that are favorable to us, on fair terms.”

A soldier with the 156th Brigade, who identified himself only by his first name, Kostiantyn, in keeping with military rules, dismissed the truce as “ridiculous,” adding that perhaps “there will not be such harsh shelling as there is every evening here, but fighting will be conducted in one way or another."

Student Oleksandra Serpilova viewed the declaration as “another attempt to keep America engaged, to give Trump hope that some kind of negotiations are possible.”

Just before the ceasefire announcement, Ukraine and Russia targeted each other with long-range strikes.

Russia's drone attack early Monday damaged an infrastructure facility in Cherkasy, central Ukraine, disrupting gas supplies to households in the city, Mayor Anatolii Bondarenko said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces downed 119 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over Russia’s Bryansk border region. In Ukraine, air raid sirens rang out across the country Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The outcome of a push by Trump’s administration to swiftly end the fighting, which has cost tens of thousands of lives, remains unclear, clouded by conflicting claims and doubts about how far each side might be willing to compromise amid deep hostility and mistrust.

The clock is ticking on Washington’s engagement in efforts to resolve Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that this week would be “very critical.” The U.S. needs to “make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

American military aid has been crucial for Ukraine’s war effort, and further help could be at risk if the Trump administration walks away from attempts to end the war.

Trump said over the weekend he harbors doubts about Putin’s sincerity in pursuing a deal, as Russian forces have continued to strike civilian areas of Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles while the talks have proceeded.

But on Friday, Trump described a brokered settlement on the war as “close.”

Western European officials have accused the Kremlin of dragging its feet on peace talks so that Russia's larger forces, which have battlefield momentum, can seize more Ukrainian land.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the war in a phone call Sunday with Rubio, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. They focused on “consolidating the emerging prerequisites for starting negotiations,” the statement said, without elaborating.

Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions. Ukraine has accepted it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.

A French diplomatic official said over the weekend that Trump, Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed “to pursue in the coming days the work of convergence” to obtain “a solid ceasefire.”

The diplomat said a truce is a “prior condition for a peace negotiation that respects the interest of Ukraine and the Europeans.”

The official was not authorized to be publicly identified in accordance with French presidential policy.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has balked at surrendering land to Russia in return for peace, which Washington has indicated could be necessary.

A key point of leverage for Ukraine could be a deal with Washington that grants access to Ukraine’s critical mineral wealth.

Ukraine and the U.S. have made progress on a mineral agreement, with both sides agreeing that American aid provided so far to Kyiv will not be taken into account under the terms of the deal, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Sunday.

“We have good progress,” he said after talks with U.S. Treasury Under Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington.

“The main thing is that we clearly defined our red lines: The agreement must comply with Ukraine’s Constitution, legislation, and European commitments, and must be ratified by Parliament,” Shmyhal said.

Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 has developed a significant international dimension, further complicating negotiations.

Putin on Monday thanked North Korea for sending what the U.S. estimates are thousands of troops to help defeat Ukraine, as well as allegedly supplying artillery ammunition.

Iran has also helped Russia in the war, with Shahed drones, and China has sold Russia machinery and microelectronics that Moscow can use to make weapons, Western officials say.

The U.S. and Europe have been Kyiv's biggest backers.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Representatives of embassies place flowers on a wall of a house destroyed by Thursday's Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier looks out of a shelter on the anti-drone firing position in Kostyantynivka, the site of the heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP).

Friends of Danylo Hudya, 17, who was killed in a Thursday Russian strike, stand together in the remains of a house in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin in St. Petersburg, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a house destroyed by a Russian strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian search personnel clear the rubble after a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

People cross the street past 'Moscow's Triumphal Gate' decorated with a large-scale composition depicting a replica of the 'Motherland Calls' monument ahead of celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during World War II in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answers journalists' questions near a house destroyed by Thursday's Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Honour guard soldiers pack caps after a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade, which will take place at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square on May 9 to celebrate 80 years after the victory in World War II, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier looks out of a shelter on the anti-drone firing position in Kostyantynivka, the site of the heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP).

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns against the background of a damaged private house following Russia's air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, damaged private houses burn following Russia's air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a firefighter puts out a fire at ruined private houses following Russia's air raid in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has arrived at a delicate moment as he weighs whether to order a U.S. military response against the Iranian government as it continues a violent crackdown on protests that have left more than 600 dead and led to the arrests of thousands across the country.

The U.S. president has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against antigovernment protesters. It's a red line that Trump has said he believes Iran is “starting to cross” and has left him and his national security team weighing “very strong options.”

But the U.S. military — which Trump has warned Tehran is “locked and loaded” — appears, at least for the moment, to have been placed on standby mode as Trump ponders next steps, saying that Iranian officials want to have talks with the White House.

“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday. “However, with that said, the president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran.”

Hours later, Trump announced on social media that he would slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran “effective immediately” — his first action aimed at penalizing Iran for the protest crackdown, and his latest example of using tariffs as a tool to force friends and foes on the global stage to bend to his will.

China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil and Russia are among economies that do business with Tehran. The White House declined to offer further comment or details about the president’s tariff announcement.

The White House has offered scant details on Iran's outreach for talks, but Leavitt confirmed that the president's special envoy Steve Witkoff will be a key player engaging Tehran.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and key White House National Security Council officials began meeting Friday to develop a “suite of options,” from a diplomatic approach to military strikes, to present to Trump in the coming days, according to a U.S. official familiar with the internal administration deliberations. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Trump told reporters Sunday evening that a “meeting is being set up” with Iranian officials but cautioned that “we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting.”

“We’re watching the situation very carefully,” Trump said.

Demonstrations in Iran continue, but analysts say it remains unclear just how long protesters will remain on the street.

An internet blackout imposed by Tehran makes it hard for protesters to understand just how widespread the demonstrations have become, said Vali Nasr, a State Department adviser during the early part of the Obama administration, and now professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.

“It makes it very difficult for news from one city or pictures from one city to incense or motivate action in another city,” Nasr said. “The protests are leaderless, they're organization-less. They are actually genuine eruptions of popular anger. And without leadership and direction and organization, such protests, not just in Iran, everywhere in the world — it’s very difficult for them to sustain themselves.”

Meanwhile, Trump is dealing with a series of other foreign policy emergencies around the globe.

It's been just over a week since the U.S. military launched a successful raid to arrest Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and remove him from power. The U.S. continues to mass an unusually large number of troops in the Caribbean Sea.

Trump is also focused on trying to get Israel and Hamas onto the second phase of a peace deal in Gaza and broker an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the nearly four-year war in Eastern Europe.

But advocates urging Trump to take strong action against Iran say this moment offers an opportunity to further diminish the theocratic government that's ruled the country since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

The demonstrations are the biggest Iran has seen in years — protests spurred by the collapse of Iranian currency that have morphed into a larger test of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's repressive rule.

Iran, through the country’s parliamentary speaker, has warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators.

Some of Trump's hawkish allies in Washington are calling on the president not to miss the opportunity to act decisively against a vulnerable Iranian government that they argue is reeling after last summer's 12-day war with Israel and battered by U.S. strikes in June on key Iranian nuclear sites.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on social media Monday that the moment offers Trump the chance to show that he's serious about enforcing red lines. Graham alluded to former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012 setting a red line on the use of chemical weapons by Syria's Bashar Assad against his own people — only not to follow through with U.S. military action after the then-Syrian leader crossed that line the following year.

“It is not enough to say we stand with the people of Iran,” Graham said. “The only right answer here is that we act decisively to protect protesters in the street — and that we’re not Obama — proving to them we will not tolerate their slaughter without action.”

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another close Trump ally, said the “goal of every Western leader should be to destroy the Iranian dictatorship at this moment of its vulnerability.”

“In a few weeks either the dictatorship will be gone or the Iranian people will have been defeated and suppressed and a campaign to find the ringleaders and kill them will have begun,” Gingrich said in an X post. “There is no middle ground.”

Indeed, Iranian authorities have managed to snuff out rounds of mass protests before, including the “Green Movement” following the disputed election in 2009 and the “woman, life, freedom” protests that broke out after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody of the state’s morality police in 2022.

Trump and his national security team have already begun reviewing options for potential military action and he is expected to continue talks with his team this week.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank, said “there is a fast-diminishing value to official statements by the president promising to hold the regime accountable, but then staying on the sidelines.”

Trump, Taleblu noted, has shown a desire to maintain “maximum flexibility rooted in unpredictability” as he deals with adversaries.

“But flexibility should not bleed into a policy of locking in or bailing out an anti-American regime which is on the ropes at home and has a bounty on the president’s head abroad,” he added.

Activists take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)