President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia announced a brief cease-fire in the war with Ukraine to coincide with the Orthodox Easter holiday, the Kremlin said late Thursday night.
The cease-fire should begin on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Moscow, and last until the end of the following day, according to the Kremlin announcement.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, the chief of Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, “have been instructed to cease combat operations in all directions for this period,” the statement continued, noting that “Troops are to be prepared to counter any possible provocations by the enemy, as well as any aggressive actions.”
The Kremlin said it assumed that “the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation.”
Asked by reporters on a messaging chat, a spokesman for President Volodymyr Zelensky did not immediately respond to questions about whether Ukraine would also abide by a truce.
Mr. Zelensky has been calling for an Easter cease-fire for more than a week. At the same time, he said he remained skeptical that the Kremlin would genuinely halt the fighting. “We have repeatedly offered Russia a cease-fire at least for Easter — this special time of the year,” he said on Monday. “But for them, all times are alike and nothing is sacred.”
Last year, Mr. Putin also declared an Easter truce, but Mr. Zelensky accused Moscow of violating it almost 3,000 times. Russian attacks during the 30-hour period killed at least three people in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, and injured three more.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed last Easter that the Russian military had “strictly observed the cease-fire and remained at previously occupied lines and positions,” and accused Ukraine of violating it almost 5,000 times.
In the current combat conditions, where soldiers face constant surveillance and targeting from drones in the sky around the clock, even a brief cease-fire could give Ukranian troops a chance to rest and resupply. But even if both sides honor the truce, it is unlikely to serve as a stepping stone toward a longer pause in the fighting.
Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia have stalled since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Mr. Zelensky, in comments to reporters on Wednesday, said the recent truce agreed between Washington and Tehran could open a window to resume talks. But he also acknowledged that this window could soon close, as the Trump administration turns its attention to domestic politics starting this summer, ahead of the midterm elections.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army has launched waves of strikes against Russian oil infrastructure since the beginning of the Iran war in an attempt to offset the financial windfall the Kremlin is set to receive amid soaring global oil prices and an easing of U.S. sanctions on Russian oil sales. Mr. Zelensky has said Kyiv would stop the strikes only if Moscow similarly halted its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Kyiv has complained that Washington’s decision to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian oil already at sea by mid-March — a move designed to ease pressure on global oil markets — would help finance Russia’s war effort. The U.S. waiver is set to expire on Saturday, just a few hours before Mr. Putin’s proposed Easter truce, but Ukrainian officials have expressed concern that Washington would extend it given the continued strain on global oil markets.
Valerie Hopkins covers the war in Ukraine and how the conflict is changing Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States. She is based in Moscow.
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