Earlier this month a number of strikes were carried out on oil infrastructure in the city of Tuapse on the Black Sea, leading to significant oil spills. On local Telegram chat groups, people shared photos of oil slicks in the sea, black puddles on the road and stray animals covered in oily droplets.
Despite Moscow’s downplaying of the seriousness of the attacks, on Wednesday the Kremlin announced it was paring back its yearly military parade to mark Victory Day – the defeat of Nazi Germany in WW2, on 9 May – due to what it said was the “terrorist threat” from Ukraine.
In a 90-minute phone call with Donald Trump later that evening, Vladimir Putin proposed a one-day ceasefire to be observed that day.
“Trump actively supported this initiative, noting that the holiday marks our shared victory,” against Nazi Germany, Putin’s diplomatic advisor Yuri Ushakov said.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv would ask the US for more information about the Kremlin’s ceasefire offer.
“We will clarify what exactly this is about – a few hours of security for a parade in Moscow, or something more,” Zelensky said.
But he added that Ukraine’s proposal was still of a long-time ceasefire and a “lasting peace”.
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over four years ago, Russia has been continuously bombing Ukrainian cities as well as deploying hundreds of thousands of troops on a long front line in the east of the country. Thousands of civilians have died and many more have been displaced.
A number of limited, temporary truces have been held since 2022 – many held around holidays or only involving applying to energy infrastructure or the Black Sea. Ukraine has continued to push for a peace deal, while Russia dismisses that idea unless Kyiv agrees to give up sovereign Ukrainian territories to Moscow.
Kremlin adviser Ushakov said that Trump had asked Putin for his assessment of the situation on the front line in Ukraine. Putin reportedly told the US president that Russian troops were “holding the strategic initiative and pushing back the enemy’s positions”.
However, in recent months Ukraine has managed to claw back some territory occupied by Russian troops, aided by technological advances and a slower pace of recruitment on the Russian side.
Kyiv’s forces “are imposing increasing costs and casualties” on Russian soldiers, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a recent report.
It added that the Kremlin was likely trying to mitigate the mounting costs of the war by attempting to convince Trump that Russia is closer to victory than is the case.
