Three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine announced

The president said the ceasefire includes a suspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners by each country

Ukrainian army officers at a monument to pilots to mark Victory Day in the Second World War, in Kyiv, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

US president Donald Trump has said the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a three-day ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners, adding that such a halt to hostilities could be the “beginning of the end” of the long war between them.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Yuri Ushakov, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, both confirmed the agreement.