Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ceasefire with Ukraine during the Orthodox Easter holidays, the Kremlin said on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that he had proposed a holiday truce through the United States as he negotiates an end to the four-year conflict interrupted by war in the Middle East.
“In view of the upcoming Orthodox Easter feast, Putin announced the end of the ceasefire from 16:00 on April 11 to April 12, 2026,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The Kremlin said Russia’s General Staff “has been instructed to cease combat operations in all directions during this period,” adding that troops were ready to “counter any possible provocation by the enemy.”
“We think the Ukrainian side will follow the lead of the Russian Federation.”
So far, Ukrainian official sources have not responded.
The war killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, making it Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.
– Progress is slow –
For several years, frontline fighting came to a near standstill. Russia gained a small amount of territory at a high cost.
But Kiev has recently been successful in launching counterattacks in the southeast, while Russia’s progress has been slowing since late 2025, according to the U.S. Institute of War Studies.
In addition to Ukraine’s pushback, analysts attribute the slowdown to Russia’s ban on using SpaceX’s Starlink satellites and Moscow’s own efforts to block the Telegram messaging app.
Satellite and messaging applications are used extensively by the military for communications, particularly to coordinate the drone attacks that have come to dominate the war.
However, according to ISW, the situation in the Donetsk region is not favorable for the Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
As part of the peace deal, Moscow wants Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the two cities without fighting.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy targets, especially oil export ports, in recent days after war in the Middle East sent oil prices soaring.
Several rounds of U.S.-led talks have failed to bring the warring sides closer to a deal, and U.S. attention is now focused on Iran.
Negotiations reached an impasse, with Moscow demanding territorial and political concessions, which Zelensky ruled out as tantamount to surrender.
Moscow occupies just over 19% of Ukraine’s territory, much of which was captured in the early weeks of the conflict.
Boolean/TW
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
