Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a unilateral Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, ordering his forces to end hostilities at 6pm Moscow time on Saturday until the end of Sunday.
The announcement appeared aimed at showing an impatient Trump administration, which is threatening to give up on trying to broker a deal, that Moscow was still open to peace talks.
“We will assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example,” Putin said in a meeting televised on Saturday with his top military commander, Gen Valery Gerasimov.
There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv.
“Based on humanitarian considerations … the Russian side announces an Easter truce. I order a stop to all military activities for this period,” Putin told his military chief at a meeting in the Kremlin.
“We will 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 Russian Defence Ministry said it had given instructions on the ceasefire to all group commanders in the area of the “special military operation”, the Kremlin’s term for the war.
Russian troops will adhere to the ceasefire provided it is “mutually respected” by Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement.