Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had been given a clear offer for a ceasefire and knew how to contact Ukraine and its partners to discuss the details, leaving the door open for a possible truce.
"Based on today’s developments, we see that Russia responded to our ceasefire proposal only with new strikes and new attacks," Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Wednesday.
"Depending on the situation overnight and tomorrow, we will also determine our fully justified responses." At the same time, Zelensky signalled that Kiev had little interest in a ceasefire limited to Russia's Victory Day celebrations, which commemorate the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany, on May 9.
"Russia has received from us a clear proposal on silence of the guns and diplomacy ... If the one person in Moscow who cannot live without war cares only about one parade and nothing else, that's a different story," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the possibility of a ceasefire around the May 9 celebrations in a phone call with US President Donald Trump in late April. Russia's Defence Ministry later announced a two-day ceasefire set to take effect on Friday.
Kiev responded by proposing that hostilities cease from May 6, but Moscow has so far ignored the offer.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova meanwhile repeated warnings of retaliation if Ukraine attacked the military parade in Moscow.
Zakharova urged foreign diplomats to leave Kiev in advance and said Russia would respond to any attempt to disrupt the celebrations with "terrorist acts" with retaliatory strikes, "including against decision-making centres in Kiev," according to comments published on Telegram.
