In the midst of the ongoing war with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin announced a brief 30-hour ceasefire to mark the Easter holiday. But Kyiv has reacted with deep suspicion, as the war enters a critical phase and U.S.-led peace efforts falter.
Mr. Putin stated that “all forms of hostilities” would come to a halt from 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday until midnight on Monday. That window corresponds to 11 a.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday Eastern Time in the United States.
“We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example,” the Russian leader said, adding that the ceasefire would allow Moscow to evaluate Kyiv’s sincerity about ending the conflict.
However, only hours after the announcement, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian forces had continued to launch attacks. “According to the commander-in-chief’s report, Russian offensive operations are ongoing in some sectors of the front, and Russian artillery continues to fire,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Saturday night address.
President Zelensky said Ukraine viewed the ceasefire with suspicion, noting that Mr. Putin has yet to endorse a U.S.-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
“If Russia is suddenly ready to commit to a complete and unconditional silence, then Ukraine will respond in kind,” Mr. Zelensky said. “Silence in response to silence, strikes in response to attacks.”
He also called for the brief Easter truce to be extended to 30 days.
“This would reveal Russia’s true intentions,” Mr. Zelensky said. “Thirty hours is enough for headlines, but not for building trust. Thirty days could give peace a real chance.”
The timing of Mr. Putin’s announcement raised eyebrows, coming just a day after the Trump administration expressed mounting frustration with both Russia and Ukraine. It also followed a statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense that its forces had driven Ukrainian troops out of a key position in Russia’s Kursk region — an area Ukrainian forces briefly infiltrated last year.
“Unfortunately, there is a long history of Mr. Putin’s words not matching his actions,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. “Russia can still agree to the full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire proposal that has been on the table since March.”
Just hours after announcing the truce, Mr. Putin appeared at an Orthodox Easter service at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. He was accompanied by the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, and other worshippers, according to Reuters.
Photos showed Mr. Putin holding a lit red candle and making the sign of the cross. The service was led by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a staunch ally of the Russian president and vocal supporter of the war in Ukraine.
The ceasefire declaration came at a particularly pivotal time in the war.
In addition to clashes in Kursk, fighting continues along the eastern front, where battle lines have remained largely static over the past three years, with neither side gaining decisive ground.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based conflict monitor, Ukrainian forces have recently succeeded in pushing Russian troops back from the area around Toretsk. However, Russian forces have made incremental gains near Kupiansk, Lyman and Kurakhove.
Separately on Saturday, the two countries carried out one of the largest prisoner exchanges since the war began.
President Zelensky announced that 277 captured Ukrainian soldiers had returned home. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that 246 Ukrainian soldiers were exchanged for the same number of Russian troops. As an additional “gesture of goodwill,” Russia also exchanged 31 wounded Ukrainian soldiers for 15 injured Russian servicemen.
As with previous exchanges, the swap was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
At the same time, U.S.-led peace efforts have hit roadblocks. Moscow continues to stall, having previously rejected the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Washington was prepared to “move on” from its efforts to broker peace in Ukraine if there were no visible signs of progress.