Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin declares ‘Easter truce’ until Monday

Moscow’s troops have driven out Ukrainian forces from nearly all of Russia’s western Kursk region, Russia’s military chief Valery Gerasimov has said.

“The bulk of the area where the invasion took place has now been cleared,” Mr Gerasimov told president Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

“It’s 1,260 square km, 99.5%.”

Russia has been trying to eject Ukrainian forces from Kursk since August last year after Kyiv’s troops mounted a surprise incursion that embarrassed Putin and which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hoped would give him a bargaining chip in any future talks to end the war.

Mr Gerasimov said Ukraine was holding onto just 3 square km of Kursk around the villages of Oleshnya and Gornal, which lie just on the border.

The Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Russia had recaptured Oleshnya from Ukraine.

In recent weeks Russia has retaken a swath of territory inside Kursk and has begun to push ahead into Ukraine’s neighbouring Sumy region.

At the same time, Ukraine has also made a fresh push into Russia’s Belgorod region, south of Kursk. Gerasimov told Putin that troops were successfully suppressing Ukrainian attacks there.

A Ukrainian official has said that Russian forces were continuing to open fire on Ukrainian positions despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proclamation of an Easter ceasefire.

“The Russians are trying to pretend that they are ‘peacekeepers’, but they already refused an unconditional ceasefire on March 11 and now are conducting an information operation, talking about a ‘truce’ but continuing to shoot without stopping,” Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Telegram.

“This is all with the aim of blaming Ukraine,” wrote Mr Kovalenko, whose centre is a body within the National Security and Defence Council.

Ukraine’s foreign minister has said that Ukraine could not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin over his declaration of an Easter ceasefire and added that Kyiv stood by its original agreement to abide by a 30-day cease fire.

“Ukraine’s position remains clear and consistent: back in Jeddah on March 11, we agreed unconditionally to the U.S. proposal of a full interim ceasefire for 30 days,” Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.

“Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a ceasefire. 30 hours instead of 30 days.

“Russia can agree at any time to the proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which has been on the table since March…. We know his words cannot be trusted and we will look at actions, not words.”

In March, the Kremlin said US President Donald Trump had requested that Russia refrain from striking energy infrastructure.

It added that Mr Putin had responded “positively” to this request and had “immediately given the Russian military the corresponding command”.

However, Mr Putin broke his promise to Mr Trump just hours after his agreement. Russia fired several ballistic missiles and nearly 150 drones across Ukraine a few hours later

The Russian president has an extensive history of breaking peace agreements.

Read the full report from my colleague Tom Watling:

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that 277 Ukrainian service personnel had returned home from Russian captivity in the latest swap with Moscow.

The Ukrainian president thanked the United Arab Emirates for mediating the exchange. He said a total of 4,552 Ukrainians – service personnel and civilians – had been returned since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022.

“We remember all those who remain in captivity,” he said in a post on X. “We are searching for everyone who could be there. We must bring them all home.”

The Russian defence ministry said Russia had received 246 troops in the swap.

The Russian POWs are in Belarus, the ministry said, where they were being provided with medical and psychological care.

Ukrainian air defence units were repelling an attack by Russian drones, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that Russian drones in Ukrainian skies showed Moscow’s true attitude to Easter and the lives of people.

In a post on social media, he said he had 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,” he said.

He also referenced ongoing Russian drone attacks, saying air raid sirens were sounding across Ukraine as of 5.15pm local time.

“Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun working to protect us,” he said, adding that the use of Shahed drones on Easter revealed “Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life.”

Vladimir Putin has announced there will be an Easter ceasefire.

He has ordered his forces to end hostilities at 6 pm Moscow time (3pm GMT) on Saturday until the end of Sunday.

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.

Why has he ordered a ceasfire?

Mr Putin said the ceasefire is based on “humanitarian considerations”.

“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, Valery Gerasimov, at a meeting in the Kremlin.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine.

However, the Russian president said: “We 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.”

Russian troops will adhere to the ceasefire provided it is “mutually respected” by Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

This is not the first time an Easter truce has been suggested to pause the fighting in the war.

Back in 2022, just a few months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a ceasefire was proposed to take place between 21 and 25 April.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres put forward the idea, aiming to “open a series of humanitarian corridors” and allow for the “safe exit of all civilians wishing to leave areas of confrontation”.

But the plan never came to fruition.

While Ukraine expressed support for the proposal, Russia rejected it, saying it did not want to give Kyiv’s forces a chance to rest.

Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Mr Dmitry Polyansky, called the proposal “insincere” and claimed it would give Ukrainian troops more time to regroup and receive weapons.

As we’ve been reporting, the Kremlin has shared a statement from Russian president Vladimir Putin in which he declares a temporary Easter ceasefire in Ukraine.

At a meeting with chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov, Mr Putin is quoted as saying: “Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18.00 to 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.”