Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Saturday that he has ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” in Ukraine, declaring an “Easter truce” out of “humanitarian considerations” until the end of Sunday.

Putin said that all hostilities would halt between 6 pm Moscow time on Saturday (11 a.m. ET) and midnight on Monday (5 pm Sunday ET), and stated: “We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example.” The truce if held to will total 30 hours.

Both countries have majority Orthodox Christian populations, and in Orthodox tradition Pascha (Easter) services in churches begin around midnight and continue for several hours, followed by more celebrations later into Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled willingness to abide by the Easter truce, but quickly after accused Moscow of already violating it. “If Russia is now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly – mirroring Russia’s actions,” he said.

Just after 22:30 local time in Kiev the AFP news agency reported air-raid sirens, suggesting that Russia is breaking the ceasefire, though this doesn’t necessarily mean that projectiles have been inbound:

AFP says its journalists in the Ukrainian capital received an air-raid alert message and were told to proceed to shelters by sirens shortly before 22:00 local time due to a “missile threat” in the region.

Within hours after Putin’s announcement, Zelensky in a Saturday night address said, “According to the report of the commander-in-chief, Russian assault operations continue in some parts of the frontline and Russian artillery continues to fire.”

PUTIN: WE DECLARE AN EASTER TRUCE

“I order for this period to stop all the hostilities from 6:00 PM until midnight, and we expect the Ukraine to follow this example.”

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 19, 2025

Zelensky further pressed Putin to “give peace a chance” amid the reports that fighting continued in several frontline areas. According to BBC, one senior Ukrainian military official said that “his unit and others received orders to stop firing at Russian positions minutes after the truce was due to start.”

The Ukrainian leader followed by asserting that if Putin is serious about peace, he would be willing to extend the impromptu Easter ceasefire through the end of the month:

“If Russia is now suddenly ready to actually join the format of complete and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act in a mirror image, as it will on the Russian side. Silence in response to silence, strikes in defense of strikes,” Zelensky said, calling for the Easter truce to be extended to 30 days.

“This will show Russia’s true intentions, because 30 hours is enough for headlines, but not for real confidence-building measures. Thirty days can give peace a chance,” he said.

According to reporting in CNN as of Saturday evening local time:

The head of Kherson’s regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Saturday evening local time that a high-rise building in the Dniprovskyi district of Kherson had caught fire after being struck by drones. Russian drones also attacked the villages of Urozhayne and Stanislav, he said.

“Unfortunately, we do not observe any ceasefire. The shelling continues and civilians are under attack again,” Prokudin said. “This is another confirmation that Russia has nothing sacred.”

But it’s hard to assess the degree that this special ceasefire is holding elsewhere. There as of yet are no significant or widespread reports of fighting or attacks across various Ukrainian towns and cities, suggesting it could be effective.

277 Ukrainian soldiers returned from Russian captivity today in a POW exchange with the Russians pic.twitter.com/WD5rLXGce1

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 19, 2025

One confirmed bright point is that the two warring sides did conclude another major prisoner swap on the occasion of the Easter holiday weekend. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the military swapped 246 captured Ukrainian soldiers for the same number of Russian troops.

The “gesture of good will” further included the freeing of 31 wounded Ukrainian troops for 15 wounded Russian servicemen. All of this comes after the White House has said its patience is wearing thin, and wants to see the two sides quickly come to the negotiating table, and expects this to happen in days or within at least weeks.

JUST IN: 🇷🇺 Russian President Putin attend’s Easter service at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. pic.twitter.com/DMluyIH0BE

— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) April 19, 2025