Vladimir Putin announces Easter truce in Ukraine.
The Russian president said that Moscow's military forces will cease all operations until Monday. "Based on humanitarian considerations, today, from 6 p.m. to midnight, from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce . I order that all military actions be stopped for this period," Putin said. " We expect that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our troops must be ready to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any of its aggressive actions ." Kiev's reaction "will show how much Ukraine wants and is able to resolve the conflict peacefully," he said, quoted by Moscow agencies.
Russia, Putin added, remains open to negotiations and "welcomes" the peace efforts of US President Donald Trump as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping , the other BRICS countries and "all supporters of a just and peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded promptly: "As for Putin's latest attempt to play with human lives, air raid warnings are now being issued across Ukraine . At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun work to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin's true attitude to Easter and human life."
This is not the first time that an Easter truce has been proposed in Ukraine: it had already happened in 2022, a few months after Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres had tried to impose it in order to "open a series of humanitarian corridors" and create the conditions "for a problem-free exit for all civilians who wished to leave the conflict zones". In that case, however, it did not materialize.
"Ukraine's position remains clear and consistent," he wrote.
on X Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, "on March 11 in Jeddah we unconditionally accepted the US proposal for a full interim ceasefire for 30 days. Russia refused" and "Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a ceasefire: 30 hours instead of 30 days. Unfortunately, we have a long history of statements not corresponding to actions. We know that his words cannot be trusted and we will evaluate the facts, not the words."
(Online Union)