Ukraine War: Putin announces ceasefire about Easter

Russian President Vladimir Putin surprisingly announced a one -sided ceasefire over Easter. This reports the AFP news agency and the state Russian agency. According to Tass, Russia will stop all combat acts from Saturday, 6 p.m. Moscow time until April 21, 0 a.m. Moscow.

“I am ordering a stop of all military activities for this period,” Putin said on Saturday at a meeting with his military chief Waleri Gerassimow in Kremlin.

Putin called Ukraine to also put down the weapons during this period. He said he assumed that Ukraine would follow the Russian example. At the same time, he instructed Gerassimow to prepare the Russian troops for the defense against possible violations of the ceasefire.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the command for the fire break was issued to all commanders in the combat areas. It was arranged for humanitarian reasons and is followed on the condition that Ukraine also sticks to it.

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.

The Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj has skeptically commented on the unilateral fire break for Easter by Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. “As far as Putin’s new attempt to play with human life, the air alarm is heard in many parts of Ukraine,” Selenskyj wrote on the platform X. 45 minutes before the fire break came into force, Russian fight drones in the sky above Ukraine were spotted. Ukraine’s air defense has already opened the fire.

“Shahehed drones in our sky expose Putin’s true attitude towards Easter and lives,” criticized Selenskyj. The president initially did not provide any information as to whether Ukraine would also stop fire over Easter.

At the moment of the announcement of the one-sided Easter fire break by the Kremlin, rocket alarm had also been triggered in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

Gerassimow commented on the situation in the Russian border region of Kursk, in which Ukraine had started an offensive last August. In the meantime, more than 99 percent of the territory have been recaptured, said the Russian chief of staff. Previously, the Russian Ministry of Defense had declared that the penultimate village in the region, which was still under Ukrainian control.

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. The negotiations on the end of the fights initiated by the United States had recently hardly progressed. US President Donald Trump had therefore threatened the end of peace between Russia and Ukraine, if there was no quick progress. “We want to do it quickly,” said Trump in Washington on Friday.

Note: This article was added to further information and the Selenskyj’s reaction.