War in Ukraine: Putin announces fire break for Easter

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin surprisingly proclaimed a break for Easter in his war against Ukraine. Putin had previously met with chief of staff Valeri Gerassimow and had information about the situation on the front. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow said that the ceasefire was met by the Russian troops on the condition that the Ukrainian armed forces also adhered to it.

The Kremlin said: “During the meeting in the Kremlin, the commander -in -chief heard a report by Waleri Gerassimow, the chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, about the situation on the contact line and announced that the Russian side stopped all hostilities from 6 p.m. (Moscow Zeit) on April 19 to 00:00 (Moscow Time) on April 21.” At the same time, Putin wished all Russian fighters on the fronts in Ukraine a happy Easter. The Easter of the Orthodox Church coincides with the Easter of the Catholic and Evangelical Church this year.

Background of the decision unclear

The Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced that the ceasefire would be introduced for humanitarian reasons. The background to this decision was initially unclear. Most recently, Washington had increased the pressure on the warring parties to agree to the recording of peace talks soon. US President Donald Trump made it clear that he wants to see quick progress so that the war in Ukraine finally ends – otherwise his government could hire her efforts. He wanted to see an agreement “very soon”, said Trump in the White House. He did not specify how many days meant.

The US President emphasized that if the compromise on both sides is lacking, he was not interested in continuing his mediation efforts. “If one of the two parties makes it very difficult for some reason, we will simply say: you are stupid. You are fools, you are terrible people, and we will just leave it,” he said. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”

Rocket alarm in Ukraine

The Russian armed forces had slowly and with high losses in the past few months in the east of Ukraine. According to the State Agency Tass, Putin represented the development as follows: “The situation on the contact line is clear and develops in a convenient way,” he said. “The Russian troops move step by step and confident.”

At the same time as the announcement of the fire break by Putin, the Ukrainian capital Kiev alarm was triggered before a possible rocket attack.

An official reaction from Kyiv to the announced Easter fire break failed to materialize for the time being. According to Tass, Putin said that he hoped that Ukraine will follow the example and also set the fire. “The reaction of Ukraine will show how seriously she is ready and able to take part in peace talks,” said Putin.