Russia has rejected a proposal from Ukraine to extend Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unilateral three-day ceasefire as the United States grows increasingly impatient with stalled efforts to find a long-term solution to end the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Tuesday that Moscow had seen Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to extend Putin’s brief early May pause in fighting to 30 days.

But Peskov said it would be “difficult to enter into a long-term ceasefire” without first clearing up a number of “questions”.

Zelenskyy had branded Putin’s unilateral truce, which will last from May 8 to 10 and coincides with Moscow’s celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, as an “attempt at manipulation”.

The Ukrainian leader also questioned why Moscow would not agree to Kyiv’s call for a ceasefire lasting at least 30 days and starting immediately.

Peskov threw the Ukrainian president’s words back at him, saying that the absence of a “direct response” from Ukraine to Putin’s three-day pause, which the spokesman described as a “gesture of goodwill”, was itself “a manipulation”.

The to-and-fro comes amid pressure from an increasingly impatient White House to agree on a deal to end the conflict.

Credit: aljazeera.com