Russia has not stopped artillery and assault attacks along the front lines, despite announcing an “Easter truce” on Saturday, according to Ukraine, drawing sharp criticism of the declared pause in fighting that has been labeled a “PR operation.”
Why It Matters
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday Moscow would stop attacks until Monday morning, quickly met with skepticism from Kyiv officials and Western analysts. Ukraine said on Saturday Russian strikes had continued despite the announcement.
The U.S. on Friday said it was willing to talk away from its pledge to end Europe’s largest land conflict since World War II if it became clear a ceasefire deal couldn’t be reached in the coming weeks.
Ukraine agreed more than a month ago to a full, 30-day ceasefire brokered by the U.S., while the Kremlin withheld its consent despite three trips by President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Russia.
Moscow only agreed to a partial truce covering the Black Sea when a raft of sanctions are lifted. This has not yet come into force.
Both sides have accused one another of violating a U.S.-brokered ban on strikes on energy infrastructure.
What To Know
The Kremlin said it would halt “all military operations” for 30 hours between 6 p.m. Moscow time (11 a.m. ET) on Saturday and midnight into Monday morning.
Putin, speaking during a meeting with General Valery Gerasimov, the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, said the Kremlin assumed Kyiv would “follow our example.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday evening that Moscow’s forces had continued firing artillery and attacking on “several front-line sectors.” Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine’s national security and defense council, said Russia was still firing “in all directions.”
“There is no trust in words coming from Moscow,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian government-backed Centre for Strategic Communication said on Sunday the unilateral truce was “merely a PR operation aimed at western audiences, with zero substance.”
In a fresh statement on Sunday morning, the Ukrainian leader said that between 6 p.m. on Saturday and midnight, Russia had shelled his country 387 times, launched 19 assaults, and wielded drones nearly 300 times.
“As of Easter morning, we can state that the Russian army is attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire, while in some areas still continuing isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said late on Saturday it had retaken a village in its western Kursk region, and seized Shevchenko, a settlement in Ukraine’s embattled eastern Donetsk region. A spokesperson for the Khortytsia group of Ukrainian forces operating in the east told Ukrainian media Kyiv was retaliating “only to enemy attacks and assault actions, as well as to its fire on our positions.”
The declared truce came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington could be evaluating in the next few days whether U.S. teams would be able to clinch a ceasefire deal in the next few weeks.
“We’re not going to continue to fly all over the world and do meeting after meeting after meeting if no progress is being made,” Rubio said, in one of the clearest indicators of the Trump administration’s burgeoning frustration with the glacial pace of progress toward fulfilling a major foreign policy goal.
“If, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump then told reporters in the White House.
Kyiv, under intense pressure from Washington, agreed during meetings in Saudi Arabia last month to a U.S.-proposed ceasefire deal. Referencing this agreement, Zelensky said on Saturday that “Ukraine responded positively, but Russia ignored it.”
“If a complete ceasefire truly takes hold, Ukraine proposes extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20,” Zelensky added. “That is what will reveal Russia’s true intentions.”
Ukraine and many of its allies have accused Russia of tripping up ceasefire talks, and Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Moscow despite the rapprochement the White House has pursued with the Kremlin.
“This is about Putin giving the Trump administration a little sugar,” retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan said in a post to social media.
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia had marked Good Friday with ballistic and cruise missile attacks, and by deploying Iranian-designed Shahed explosive drones. At least one person was killed and more than 100 injured in attacks on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to Kyiv.
One person was killed in a drone attack on the northeastern city of Sumy, Ukraine said. Last week, Russia launched ballistic missile strikes on the city as residents traveled to attend church services marking Palm Sunday, killing at least 35 people and injuring around 129 others.
The Kremlin announced a brief truce in January 2023 to mark Orthodox Christmas, which quickly fell apart as it was roundly criticized by Ukraine as a cover for Russian soldiers to advance.
What People Are Saying
Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with army chief General Valery Gerasimov: “Our troops must be ready to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy and any aggressive actions on their part.”
Ukrainian defense official Andriy Kovalenko said in a statement late on Saturday: “Russia is breaking its own promises and not stopping the fire.”
What Happens Next
It isn’t yet clear how extensive Russian and Ukrainian operations will be throughout the remainder of the purported truce period on Sunday.
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