Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday declared a temporary Easter truce in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, announcing a halt in military operations from 6:00 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday until midnight on Sunday, citing humanitarian grounds, according to AFP.
“Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 to 00:00 [Moscow time], from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce,” Putin stated during a meeting with Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. “I order that all military actions be stopped for this period.”
Putin expressed hope that Ukraine would reciprocate the gesture. “We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our troops must be ready to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations from the enemy,” he added.
He further accused Ukraine of repeatedly violating past agreements, saying Kyiv had breached a deal "more than 100 times" regarding strikes on energy infrastructure. Russia had dropped its moratorium on targeting Ukrainian energy facilities just a day earlier, with both sides blaming each other for violating an informal understanding.
Putin emphasized that the Easter truce would serve as a test of Kyiv's commitment to peace. “This proposal will show how sincere the Kyiv regime’s readiness, desire, and ability are to observe agreements and participate in a peace process.”
Previous ceasefire attempts during Easter in 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in 2023 failed to materialize due to a lack of agreement between the two sides.
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