President Vladimir Putin has announced an unexpected and brief unilateral Easter truce in Russia’s war on Ukraine while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists that Russian “assault operations” and “artillery fire are ongoing”.
Zelenskyy initially called the announcement on Saturday “another attempt by Putin to play with human lives. … Air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine,” and “Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life.”
The Ukrainian leader said later on X that his country would abide by a truce “if Russia is now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence” and suggested extending a ceasefire.
In his surprise move, Putin said in televised comments while speaking to the Russian military’s chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov: “Today from 18:00 [15:00 GMT] to midnight Sunday [21:00 GMT on Sunday], the Russian side announces an Easter truce.” He added that the truce is based on “humanitarian considerations”.
Putin said he assumed Ukraine would follow Russia’s example and said Kyiv’s actions during the ceasefire would show its readiness for a peaceful settlement.
But the Russian president also told Gerasimov to ready troops to repel any violations of the truce by Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defence posted on Telegram: “The ceasefire regime is being introduced for humanitarian purposes and will be observed by the Russian Joint Group of Troops, provided that it is mutually observed by the Kyiv regime”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha countered that Putin’s word “cannot be trusted and we will look at actions, not words”.
Sybiha added that Ukraine had “agreed unconditionally to the U.S. proposal of a full interim ceasefire for 30 days” in March, which Russia rejected. “Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a ceasefire. 30 hours instead of 30 days,” Sybiha continued on X.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said this would be the first time Russia has suspended fire since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
“No doubt this decision would be positively received here and around the world. This move certainly gives hope to a lot of people, and the timing is also right as the Christian world is celebrating Easter these days,” she said.
Putin’s announcement came a day after United States President Donald Trump said Washington will “take a pass” on trying to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war if either Moscow or Kyiv makes it too difficult to end it.
Last month, Putin agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure targets in Ukraine for 30 days after a phone call with Trump but stopped short of accepting a broader US-backed 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine has said it is ready to implement.
According to Russian media reports, Putin on Saturday accused Ukraine of violating the truce on attacks on energy infrastructure more than 100 times but said the situation on the front lines has been favourable to Russia so far. Ukraine has also cited numerous violations by Russia in recent weeks.
Putin said Moscow “has always been ready for negotiations” and welcomed the US, Chinese and other countries’ efforts to ensure a fair settlement on Ukraine.
‘Russia saying one thing and doing another’
Hanna Shelest, security programmes director at the think tank Ukrainian Prism, told Al Jazeera that Putin’s latest truce announcement has to do with Trump’s comments on Friday.
“For the Kremlin, the current US administration … is much more open to the demands of Moscow and more open than European partners,” she said.
“So they [Kremlin officials] feel they can manipulate the White House much more than Berlin or London or Paris,” she added.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said people in Ukraine are looking at Putin’s announcement cynically.
“Ukrainians will tell you that they agreed to a ceasefire more than 30 days ago and that Russia did not. Based on the responses we’ve seen from … MPs, civil and military officials and bloggers, everyone here feels this is simply a way for Vladimir Putin to carry out a publicity stunt and buy some time with the White House,” he said.
“Ukrainians feel this is another example of Russia saying one thing and doing another,” he added.
Russia launched eight missiles and 87 drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said on Saturday.
Air defence units shot down 33 Russian drones, and another 36 drones were redirected by electronic warfare, the Ukrainian air force added. It gave no details on the missiles. Damage was recorded in five regions in the south, northeast and east, it said.
Shelest noted that usually a ceasefire would be accepted very positively in Ukraine, but it is important to see the reality play out on the front lines.
“Ukraine is ready and will try to have it [a ceasefire], but Ukraine has to be on high alert because previous experiences have demonstrated we cannot relax,” she said.
Prisoner swap
In the meantime, the Russian Defence Ministry said Russia and Ukraine on Saturday conducted a swap of 246 prisoners each that was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Zelenskyy said 277 Ukrainian service personnel had returned home from Russian captivity in the latest swap.
The Russian former prisoners of war are in Belarus, where they were being provided with medical and psychological care, the ministry said.
Zelenskyy thanked the UAE for mediating the exchange. He said a total of 4,552 Ukrainians – service personnel and civilians – had been returned since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
