Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a 30-hour ceasefire in the war in Ukraine to mark the Easter holiday. On Saturday, 19 April, the Kremlin stated that Russia would halt ‘all hostilities’ from 6 pm (Moscow time) on Saturday until midnight on Monday. Putin added that Moscow assumes the Ukrainian side will ‘follow our example’.
The announcement was met with scepticism in Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the move as ‘another attempt by Putin to play with human lives’—pointing out that, at the time of the Russian declaration, air raid alerts were sounding across Ukraine. It remained unclear whether Kyiv would observe the ceasefire.
As CNN noted, Putin declared a similar temporary ceasefire in 2023 during Orthodox Christmas. On that occasion, Ukraine rejected the offer—arguing that Russia had ulterior motives and was using the pause as a pretext to redeploy troops and reinforce its positions.
The latest Russian proposal comes amid growing international pressure to revive stalled peace talks. US President Donald Trump has been urging both sides to return to the negotiating table since the beginning of April—when Ukraine and Russia reached two separate agreements with Washington on a maritime and energy ceasefire. However, both parties have since accused each other of breaching the terms by launching strikes on energy sites.
The talks suffered a major setback on 13 April—when a Russian missile strike hit the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing at least 34 civilians, including two children. Moscow claimed the strike targeted a gathering of senior Ukrainian military officials and accused Kyiv of using civilians as human shields. President Trump condemned the attack.
Following the incident, speculation has grown that the United States may soon withdraw from its mediation efforts. According to media reports, Trump’s team has concluded that neither side currently appears committed to reaching a peace agreement.
Speaking on Holy Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: ‘If it’s [a permanent ceasefire] not going to happen, we need to know now because we have other things we have to deal with’—adding that the administration may decide within days whether to walk away from the negotiations.
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