Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a surprise one-day ceasefire in Ukraine for Easter on Saturday (Apr 19), but Kyiv said Russian forces continued artillery fire and called instead for an extended true halt to hostilities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had rejected just such a proposal brokered by US President Donald Trump last month and could not be trusted.
Putin’s unilateral move, to extend over 30 hours, followed Washington’s announcement that it could abandon peace talks within days unless Moscow and Kyiv showed they were serious about negotiating.
Putin ordered fighting to stop as of 6 pm Moscow time (11 pm, Singapore time) on Saturday until midnight (5 am, Singapore time) on Sunday night.
“Based on humanitarian considerations … the Russian side announces an Easter truce. I order a stop to all military activities for this period,” Putin told Valery Gerasimov, Chief of Russia’s General Staff, at a meeting televised on Saturday.
“We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions,” Putin added.
Shortly after the announcement, around an hour before it was due to take effect, air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv. Another warning was put in place briefly in Kyiv and the region around the capital about four hours after the ceasefire deadline.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the proposal as “yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives”. As of 45 minutes before the truce was meant to start, Ukrainian planes were repelling Russian air strikes, Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
