Desk: Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a major declaration on the occasion of Easter, declaring a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for one day. From the Russian side, Putin ordered Russian troops not to engage in any attacks from Saturday evening at 6 PM local time until the end of Sunday. He expressed hope that Ukraine would respect Russia’s decision and cooperate during this ceasefire. However, Putin instructed the military to remain prepared for any aggression from Ukraine during this period.
The Kremlin, citing Putin, stated, “Russia, inspired by humanitarian considerations, declares an Easter ceasefire from Sunday to Monday. I order all military actions to be halted during this period.” Putin further stated, “We hope that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our soldiers should be ready to prevent any provocations or attacks from the enemy during the ceasefire.”
During this announcement, Putin also made several serious allegations against Ukraine. Russian President Putin said that Gerasimov informed him that Ukraine had violated the agreement not to attack energy infrastructure more than 100 times recently. Earlier, Russia had announced the end of the ban on attacking Ukrainian energy facilities on Friday. Both Ukraine and Russia accused each other of breaking this agreement.
Putin, announcing the Easter ceasefire on Saturday, said, “This ceasefire proposal will show how sincere Ukraine is in complying with peace agreements and participating in the peace negotiation process.” It is noteworthy that previous attempts to implement a ceasefire were made on Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023, but both sides did not agree on it.
Earlier on Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated in a statement that Russian soldiers forced Ukrainian soldiers to retreat from one of the last positions in the Kursk region of Russia. Russia said that Russian forces have regained control of the village of Oleshnya located on the border with Ukraine.