Putin announces ‘Easter truce’ in Ukraine conflict
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced an Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine starting this evening and lasting till midnight on Sunday.
“Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin said in televised comments, while speaking to Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Key events
Summary of the day so far
It is approaching 6pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here is a summary of the updates so far from today’s live blog:
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Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced an Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine starting this evening and lasting till midnight on Sunday. “Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin said in televised comments, while speaking to Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov. Putin said he assumed Ukraine would follow Russia’s example, but told Gerasimov, to ready Russian troops to repel any violations of the truce by Kyiv.
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President Donald Trump has said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war. Trump spoke on Friday shortly after secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that the US may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.
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US vice-president JD Vance met on Saturday with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the foreign minister, archbishop Paul Gallagher. As the US pushes to end the war in Ukraine, Parolin reaffirmed Kyiv’s right to its territorial integrity and insisted that any peace deal must not be “imposed” on Ukraine but “is built patiently, day by day, with dialogue and mutual respect”.
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At least six people have been injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, local authorities said on Saturday, according to the Kyiv Independent. Citing the Ukrainian air force, the publication reported that Russia deployed eight missiles of different types, and 87 long-range drones. Of those, 33 were shot down and 36 turned out to be decoy, the air force said. The overnight attack caused damage in five regions across the country, the Ukrainian air force said.
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Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine on Saturday of attacking Russian energy facilities 10 times over the past 24 hours. A 30-day moratorium was brokered by the US in March between Ukraine and Russia against strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. However, both nations have repeatedly accused the other of violating it.
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On Saturday, a Ukrainian drone strike on a car in the Kursk region killed a woman and injured a man and a child, regional governor Alexander Khinstein said on Telegram.
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Russia on Saturday said it had retaken the penultimate village still under Ukrainian control in its Kursk frontier region, where Kyiv’s forces launched a surprise offensive in August. “During offensive operations, units of the Northern Group of Troops liberated the village of Oleshnya,” the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram. “In the areas of the Kursk region where Ukraine armed force mounted an incursion, the main part of the territory … is now liberated. That’s 1,260 square kilometres, 99.5 percent,” Gerasimov told Putin in a televised meeting. The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the reports.
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Posting on X on Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “our forces continued their activity on the territory of the Kursk region and are holding their positions”. He added: “In the Belgorod region, our warriors have advanced and expanded our zone of control.”
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Russian troops are “solidifying their presence” in the village of Kalynove in the Donetsk region, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the DeepState military blog, which is considered close to Ukraine’s army. The publication reports, sourcing DeepState, that Russian forces are deploying infantry, and establishing logistical routes and communication lines in Kalynove.
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The US is prepared to recognise Russian control of the Ukrainian region of Crimea as part of a broader peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, Bloomberg News has reported, citing people familiar with the matter. According to Bloomberg, the people said a final decision on the matter had not yet been taken, and the White House and state department did not respond to a request for comment.
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US congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, a pro-Ukraine Republican representing Pennsylvania, signed an artillery shell with a message intended for Vladimir Putin during a visit with Ukrainian troops yesterday after a meeting with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Fitzpatrick was filmed signing an artillery shell with a message that read: “To: Putin, From: PA-1. #PeaceThroughStrength.”
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Australia will use “whatever avenues” it can to help Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins, who faces a 15-year jail term in Russia for fighting with Ukrainian troops. The prime minister said on Saturday that the government would “continue to make representations to the reprehensible regime of Vladimir Putin” to release Jenkins, 33, a former teacher who fought with Ukraine’s armed forces against Russia’s invasion.
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Russia and Ukraine will conduct a new prisoner swap on Saturday mediated by the United Arab Emirates, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters. Nearly 500 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners and 46 injured soldiers will be exchanged in the latest swap to be mediated by Abu Dhabi. The exchange will involve 246 prisoners from each side, the source said.
Although Volodymyr Zelenskyy is yet to respond to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a temporary Easter ceasefire, the Ukrainian president has just posted an update on X about the Kursk region.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops were “holding their positions”. He wrote:
I have just received a report from commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Today, our forces continued their activity on the territory of the Kursk region and are holding their positions. In the Belgorod region, our warriors have advanced and expanded our zone of control.
As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives-at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine. At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun working to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life.
Here is what Vladimir Putin said about the temporary Easter ceasefire on Saturday, as reported by the Associated Press (AP):
Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 00:00 from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce. I order that all military actions be stopped for this period.
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, any of its aggressive actions.
Russia has retaken 99.5% of Kursk region territory seized by Ukraine, says Gerasimov
Russia’s military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov on Saturday said troops had retaken more than 99% of territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region in an incursion launched in August.
“In the areas of the Kursk region where Ukraine armed force mounted an incursion, the main part of the territory … is now liberated. That’s 1,260 square kilometres, 99.5 percent,” Gerasimov told Russian president Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the report.
Putin said he assumed Ukraine would follow Russia’s example, but told the chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, to ready Russian troops to repel any violations of the truce by Kyiv, reports Reuters.
Putin announces ‘Easter truce’ in Ukraine conflict
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced an Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine starting this evening and lasting till midnight on Sunday.
“Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin said in televised comments, while speaking to Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Putin says there will be a temporary ceasefire
Agence France-Presse (AFP) has a breaking news line on Vladimir Putin announcing an “Easter truce” in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
More details soon …
The US is prepared to recognise Russian control of the Ukrainian region of Crimea as part of a broader peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, Bloomberg News has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to Bloomberg, the people said a final decision on the matter had not yet been taken, and the White House and state department did not respond to a request for comment.
At least six people have been injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, local authorities said on Saturday, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Citing the Ukrainian air force, the publication reported that Russia deployed eight missiles of different types, and 87 long-range drones. Of those, 33 were shot down and 36 turned out to be decoy, the air force said.
US vice-president JD Vance met on Saturday with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the foreign minister, archbishop Paul Gallagher.
“It is clear that the approach of the current US administration is very different from what we are used to and, especially in the west, from what we have relied on for many years,” Parolin told La Repubblica daily on the eve of Vance’s visit.
As the US pushes to end the war in Ukraine, Parolin reaffirmed Kyiv’s right to its territorial integrity and insisted that any peace deal must not be “imposed” on Ukraine but “is built patiently, day by day, with dialogue and mutual respect”.
US congressman signs missile intended for Putin
US congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, a pro-Ukraine Republican representing Pennsylvania, signed an artillery shell with a message intended for Vladimir Putin during a visit with Ukrainian troops yesterday after a meeting with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Fitzpatrick was filmed signing an artillery shell with a “very personal” message to Putin. The message read:
To: Putin, From: PA-1. #PeaceThroughStrength.
PA-1 refers to the Pennsylvania community Fitzpatrick has represented since 2017. Fitzpatrick said the “message was delivered on target”.
“They’re fighting for their democracy, they’re fighting for the freedom – all of us in America need to stand behind them,” Fitzpatrick said in a separate video address published on his Facebook account.
He added:
I always have and always will have their back. I encourage all my colleagues in Congress to come here.
Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine on Saturday of attacking Russian energy facilities 10 times over the past 24 hours, Reuters reports.
A 30-day moratorium was brokered by the US in March between Ukraine and Russia against strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. However, both nations have repeatedly accused the other of violating it.
On Friday, when asked if the energy moratorium was over, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that no orders from Vladimir Putin had been received to alter Russia’s position.
Orbán’s stance on Ukraine pushes Hungary to brink in EU relations
Jennifer Rankin
The posters are going up all over Hungary. “Let’s not allow them to decide for us,” runs the slogan alongside three classic villains of Hungarian government propaganda.
They are: Ukraine’s wartime leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy; the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen; and Manfred Weber, the German politician who leads the centre-right European People’s party in the European parliament, which counts Hungary’s most potent opposition politician among its ranks.
That decision is Ukraine’s membership of the EU, a distant prospect not in the gift of any of the politicians now plastered across billboards in Hungary. Ballot papers, being sent out this week, ask a simple question: “Do you support Ukraine becoming a member of the EU?”
Despite the neutral question, Hungary’s government is not standing on the sidelines. After the launch of the campaign, the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, last week urged people to vote, claiming that Ukrainian membership would mean “we would have to spend all Hungary’s money on Ukraine”.
The government has also claimed – without offering evidence – that “cheap labour” from Ukraine would take jobs from Hungarians, while epidemics would spread because not enough Ukrainians have vaccinations.
The governing Fidesz party realised that “there is a sentiment against Hungary’s involvement in the war”, said László Andor, Hungary’s EU commissioner from 2010 to 2014. “But ever since, this has been used and abused to deny proper support to Ukraine.”
Hungary has repeatedly sought to block EU sanctions against Russia, eventually backing down. It has vetoed the release of €6bn funds to reimburse other EU countries providing military aid to Ukraine and flatly refused to sign two EU declarations in support of its invaded neighbour.
But now its attempts to stymie EU support for Ukraine could force a reckoning in its relations with the bloc, at a moment when Orbán contends with his most serious political challenger in years.
On Saturday, a Ukrainian drone strike on a car in the Kursk region killed a woman and injured a man and a child, regional governor Alexander Khinstein said on Telegram.
Russia says it has retaken penultimate village in Kursk seized by Ukraine
Russia on Saturday said it had retaken the penultimate village still under Ukrainian control in its Kursk frontier region, where Kyiv’s forces launched a surprise offensive in August, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Ukrainian campaign took Russian troops by surprise and resulted in Kyiv seizing more than 1,000 square kilometres (400 square miles) of territory.
“During offensive operations, units of the Northern Group of Troops liberated the village of Oleshnya,” the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.
Now only one other village, Gornal, remains under Ukrainian control, reports AFP.
Russian soldiers recaptured large swathes of the region in March, notably driving the Ukrainians out of the small town of Sudja, their main base of operations in the area.
According to AFP, Russian troops are now at the border and are poised to beef up threats to the Ukrainian region of Sumy, which faces Kursk, where they have already carried out incursions in recent weeks.
The US president, Donald Trump, said that nobody was “playing” him over negotiations to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump added that he believed both Russia and Ukraine were still showing enthusiasm to bring the war to an end.
You can listen to Trump’s comments in this video report:
