Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared an Easter truce, the Kremlin press service reported on Saturday.
“The Russian President declared an Easter truce,” the release said.
The truce will come into effect today from 18:00 hours and will last till midnight on Sunday.

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The head of state ordered a halt to all military actions for the duration of the Easter truce, reported Ria Novosti, a Russian state-owned domestic news agency.

Putin ordered the Russian military to halt fighting until the end of the Easter holidays, the Kremlin announced on Saturday.

“Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 to midnight from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce. I order all military actions to be stopped for this period,” Putin was quoted as saying. 
However, he insisted that Russian “troops must be ready to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations from the enemy, any of its aggressive actions”.

The Kremlin added that Russia assumes that the Ukrainian side will follow its example and stop hostilities, and the course of the truce will show the readiness of the Kyiv regime to desire and be able to resolve the issue peacefully.

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Putin made the announcement during a televised meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov. 

Briefing Putin on the situation, Gerasimov said the ‘North’ group of troops is conducting an offensive to liberate areas of the Kursk region.

He added that 1,260 square kilometres, i.e., 99.5% of the area occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has been liberated and military action is taking place in just two areas: around the settlements of Oleshnya and Gornal.

The Russian Ministry of Defence released a statement confirming that Russia will stop all military operations from 18:00 Moscow time (16:00 BST) today until midnight on 21 April (22:00 BST).

‘You’re foolish, you’re fools…, we’re going to take a pass’: Trump warned on Friday


The truce comes after President Donald Trump shared his despondency over the stalemate on Friday and said that the United States will walk away from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon.
“Quickly, we want to get it done,” Trump told reporters at the White House. 
“Now if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people, and we’re going to just take a pass. But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”
Trump’s comments followed remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the sides had just days to show progress or Washington would walk.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks,” Rubio said in Paris after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders.
“If it’s not possible, if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen, then I think the president is probably at a point where he’s going to say, ‘Well, we’re done’.”

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However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not share any reaction to the Easter truce announcement. The Ukrainian president has just posted an update on X about the Kursk region.

Zelensky 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."

 

Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds of prisoners in the war’s largest exchange, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence.

Zelensky also shared that 277 Ukrainian soldiers have returned home from Russian captivity as part of the swap mediated by the UAE.