Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary ceasefire in the Ukraine war “on humanitarian grounds,” in observance of the Easter holiday. “For this period, I order to stop all fighting. We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to reflect possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy,” he said in a televised statement, which has been translated. The ceasefire has been in effect since 6:00 p.m. Moscow time (11:00 a.m. EST) and would continue through Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy responded to Putin’s statement on social media: “As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives—at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine. At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun working to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life.”
The last time that the Russian government had called for a ceasefire in the three years since it launched its invasion of Ukraine was in January 2023, when Putin made a similar announcement in observance of Orthodox Christmas.
The announcement comes just one day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States may be pulling away from its efforts to negotiate a peace deal between the two countries. “We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” he said after meeting with Ukrainian and European officials in Paris, adding, “Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on.” Rubio also indicated that the Trump administration wants to reach a decision on the issue “in a matter of days.”
