Government data Thursday revealed

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.”The statement was agreed in the presence of EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in Lviv, in western Ukraine.

Once established the tribunal will focus on prosecuting Russian leaders most responsible for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022.Kyiv has been pushing for the creation of a special tribunal since early in the conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday Moscow “will not be reacting” to the tribunal announcement.The crime of aggression is the planning and execution of a large-scale military invasion of another country.