Putin announces the “Easter Targery” as Ukraine says “can't be trusted”

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he ordered his power to “stop all military activity” in Ukraine as he declared an “Easter truce” by the end of Sunday.

He said that the 30-hour truce will continue until 10:00 pm on Sunday (00:00 Moscow time), adding that Russian forces should be ready to respond to “any possible violations”.

Ukraine President Volodimir Zelenski has accused Putin of trying to “play with human life” – but he did not say whether Ukraine agreed to stop in the battles.

Zelenski said the Russian drones were found in the sky of Ukraine shortly before the truce came into force, which he said revealed that “Putin's true attitude towards Easter and to human life.”

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrius Sibiha stated that Ukraine has already agreed to the US proposal for a 30-day termination of fire, writing to X: “Putin now made statements about his alleged willingness to end the fire. 30 hours instead of 30 days.”

“Unfortunately, we have had a long history of his statements that do not correspond to his actions. We know that his words cannot be believed and we will look at the actions, not the words,” he added.

Putin announced the temporary truce at a meeting with his head of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

“Based on the humanitarian reasons … The Russian side declares an Easter truce. I order all military activities for this period,” Putin told Gerasimov.

“We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops must be ready to repel possible disorders of the truce and provocations from the enemy, any aggressive actions.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense said that his troops would adhere to the termination of the fire, provided that she was “mutually respected” by Ukraine.

This is not the first time a pause in the battles has been suddenly announced – a previous attempt to end the fire during the Orthodox Christmas in January 2023, fell apart after both sides failed to agree on a proposal.

Russia began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people – the greater part of them soldiers – were killed or wounded by all countries.

The United States is directly talking to Russia as part of its efforts to end war, but is struggling to make great progress.

Last month, Moscow rejected a proposal for a complete and unconditional termination of the fire agreed by the US and Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump warned on Friday that Washington would “take a pass” to fight more talks to end the war in Ukraine, unless there was a quick progress.

He spoke after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “would not continue with this endeavor for weeks and months at the end” as there were “other priorities to focus.”

“Now we have to determine very quickly – and I'm talking for a few days – whether it is possible or not,” he added.

“If that doesn't happen, then we'll just go on.”