Putin ordered fighting to stop as of 6pm Moscow time (2pm BST) on Saturday until midnight on Easter Sunday.
“We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions,” Putin added.
The Ukrainian president dismissed the Kremlin’s proposal as “yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives”.
Firefighters work at the site of a garment production factory hit by a Russian missile strike on 18 April (Photo: Reuters)
Kyiv official Andriy Kovalenko also accused Russian forces of continuing to open fire on Ukrainian positions despite Putin’s proclamation of an Easter ceasefire.
“This is all with the aim of blaming Ukraine,” said Kovalenko, whose centre is a body within the National Security and Defence Council.
Putin has proclaimed unilateral pauses in fighting in the past with little impact on the battlefield, including a 36-hour proposed truce for Orthodox Christmas in January, 2023, which Kyiv rejected.
The Kremlin’s ceasefire proposal comes a day after Washington suggested it could abandon peace talks within days unless Moscow and Kyiv show they are ready to stop the war. Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said on Friday the US would walk away from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal unless there were clear signs of progress soon.
Last month, Ukraine accepted a proposal from Trump for a 30-day truce which Moscow rejected. The sides agreed only to limited pauses of attacks on energy targets and at sea, which both accuse the other of breaking.
Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said on Friday the US would walk away from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal (Photo: AP)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that some progress on a peace settlement had already been made but that contacts with Washington were difficult.
square WORLD AnalysisTrump's team is preparing to abandon Ukraine - and Europe will pay the price
Read More
Putin has said repeatedly that he wants an end to the war, but had not retreated from his initial demands that Kyiv cede all territory he claims to have annexed and be permanently barred from joining a defence alliance with the West.
Putin told Gerasimov on Saturday that Russia welcomed efforts from the U.S., China and BRICS countries to find a peaceful settlement to the conflict.
With additional reporting from Reuters and the Associated Press.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Putin orders ‘Easter truce’ in Ukraine but Zelensky says Russain air strikes continue )
Also on site :