Ukraine war: Putin announces 30-hour ‘Easter truce’ – but Zelenskyy says Russian attacks continuing

Vladimir Putin has announced a 30-hour “Easter truce” in Ukraine – but Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian attacks are continuing hours after it was due to begin.

The Ukrainian president shared a statement on X after his Russian counterpart said a ceasefire would last from 6pm on Saturday to midnight on Easter Sunday – both Moscow time, which is two hours ahead of the UK.

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“Guided by humanitarian considerations… the Russian side declares an Easter truce,” Mr Putin said at a meeting with chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov.

“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.”

Mr Zelenskyy claimed Russian attacks were continuing despite the truce announcement.

He wrote: “As of now… Russian assault operations continue on several frontline sectors, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided.

“Therefore, there is no trust in words coming from Moscow.”

Mr Zelenskyy said in the same statement that a US proposal for a “full and unconditional 30 days ceasefire” has gone “unanswered” by Russia for 39 days.

He added that Ukraine “responded positively” to the American proposal but “Russia ignored it”.

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The Ukrainian president said that “if Russia is now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly – mirroring Russia’s actions”.

“If a complete ceasefire truly takes hold, Ukraine proposes extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20,” he added.

“That is what will reveal Russia’s true intentions – because 30 hours is enough to make headlines, but not for genuine confidence-building measures. Thirty days could give peace a chance.”

Shortly after the ceasefire was announced, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha‎ said there had been a “long history” of Mr Putin’s words not “matching his actions”.

“We know his words cannot be trusted and we will look at actions, not words,” he added.

The ceasefire announcement has echoes of January 2023, when Mr Putin ordered his forces in Ukraine to observe a 36-hour truce for Orthodox Christmas.

At that time, Mr Zelenskyy stopped short of stating his forces would reject Mr Putin’s request, but dismissed the Russian move as playing for time to regroup its invasion forces and prepare additional attacks.

Prisoner exchange

It comes as Ukraine and Russia conducted a swap of more than 500 prisoners of war on Saturday, the latest in a series of exchanges since Russia launched a full-scale invasion more than three years ago.

Mr Zelenskyy, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said 277 Ukrainian service personnel had returned home from Russian captivity.

Russia’s defence ministry said 246 servicemen had been handed over by Kyiv.

It said a further 31 injured prisoners of war had been handed over to Ukraine and 15 of its own wounded servicemen had also been returned by Kyiv.

The developments come after US President Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding three-year war.

Mr Trump spoke shortly after secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that the US may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.