Putin announces the “Easter truce” in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced a surprise Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine to last until midnight on Sunday.

The short-term order to Russian troops to stop all the combat-What Ukraine did not say if it corresponds to the Arriva after months of the President of the United States Donald Trump who pushes both Moscow and Kyiv to agree on a truce.

So far he has not been able to extract any important concession from the Kremlin.

“Today since 1800 (1500 GMT) at midnight on Sunday (Sunday 2100 GMT), the Russian part announces a Easter respite,” said Putin in the television comments during a meeting with the Russian head of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.

The air raid notices made Ukraine in the air on Saturday afternoon, also in the capital Kiev, but apparently ended when Putin’s order entered into force.

Easter, a great holiday for Christians, is celebrated on Sunday.

“I order this period to stop all military actions,” said Putin, calling the truce motivated by “humanitarian reasons”.

“We are going on the basis of the fact that the Ukrainian part will follow our example, while our troops must be ready to resist possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive action,” said Putin.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a post on social media replied skeptically to the proposal of truce accused Putin that he had attempted to “play with human life”.

He did not say if Ukraine would have stopped the fighting during the period.

On Saturday Russia and Ukraine also held a great exchange of prisoners of war, with every part that has returned more than 240 prisoners of war, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Putin said that Gerasimov had told him to Ukraine “more than 100 times … he violated an agreement on not hitting energy infrastructures”.

On Friday, Russia abandoned a moratorium to hit Ukrainian energy goals after each part has accused the other of breaking an alleged agreement without any formal agreement implemented.

The last proposal of truce will show “how sincere the readiness of the Kiev regime is, his desire and the ability to observe the agreements and participate in a process of peace interviews,” said Putin.

Zelensky wrote on X that the Tregu proposal came when air raid warnings in Ukraine were announced due to drones attacks.

“As regards the umpteenth attempt by Putin to play with human life – At this moment, the alerts of air raids are spreading in Ukraine,” said Zelensky on X, about 15 minutes before the order entered into force.

“Shahed’s drones (Attack) in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude towards Easter and towards human life,” added the president, without saying if Ukraine would have observed the proposed truce.

The plane warning in Kiev stopped at 1500 GMT.

Previous attempts to hold the fire for Easter in April 2022 and the Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides were unable to agree.

Ukraine last month accepted Trump’s proposal for a ceased 30 -day fire complete and unconditional, only for Putin to reject it.

– Swap Prisoner –
The Ministry of Defense of Moscow announced Saturday that it has returned “246 Russian soldiers” held as prisoners of war in an exchange.

“In return 246 Ukrainian prisoners of war were delivered,” said the ministry in a statement on social media.

“Also like a good testament, 31 prisoners of wounded war were delivered in exchange for 15 prisoners of wounded Russian war who needed urgent medical assistance,” added the ministry.

Gerasimov also said that Russian troops resumed over 99 percent of the territory seized from Ukraine in the Kursk region in an incursion launched in August.

“In the areas of the Kursk region where the Ukrainian armed force has mounted an incursion, the main part of the territory … It is now freed. They are 1,260 square kilometers, 99.5 percent,” said Gerasimov in Putin.

SkyNews