Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a brief Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, the Kremlin stated Saturday (April 19, 2025).
The announcement got here on the identical day as Russia’s Defense Ministry stated its forces pushed Ukrainian troops from considered one of their final remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk area the place Ukrainian troops staged a shock incursion final yr.
According to the Kremlin, the ceasefire will final from 6 p.m. Moscow time (3 p.m. GMT) on Saturday (April 19, 2025) to midnight (9 p.m. GMT) following Easter Sunday (April 20, 2025).
“Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 (6 p.m.) 00:00 (12 a.m.) from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce. I order that all military actions be stopped for this period,” Mr. Putin stated at a gathering with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the Kremlin’s Press Service quoted him as saying.
“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. Putin stated.
Mr. Putin’s announcement got here after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (April 18, 2025) stated negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither facet is “playing” him in his push to finish the grinding three-year warfare.
Mr. Trump spoke shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the U.S. might “move on” from attempting to safe a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no such thing as a progress in the approaching days, after months of efforts have did not convey an finish to the preventing.
In January 2023, Mr. Putin had ordered his forces in Ukraine to look at a unilateral, 36-hour cease-fire for Orthodox Christmas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had stopped in need of stating his forces would reject Mr. Putin’s request, however dismissed the Russian transfer as enjoying for time to regroup its invasion forces and put together extra assaults.
Russia’s Defense Ministry stated Saturday (April 19, 2025) its forces took management of the village of Oleshnya, in the Kursk area on the border with Ukraine. The Associated Press was unable to instantly confirm the declare and there was no fast response from Ukrainian officers.
According to Russian state information company Tass, Russia continues to be preventing to push Ukrainian forces out of the village of Gornal, some 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of Oleshnya.
“The Russian military has yet to push the Ukrainian armed forces out of Gornal … in order to completely liberate the Kursk region. Fierce fighting is underway in the settlement,” the company reported, citing Russia safety companies.
Russian and North Korean troopers have almost disadvantaged Kyiv of a key bargaining chip by retaking a lot of the area, the place Ukrainian troops staged a shock incursion final yr.
In different developments, the Ukrainian air pressure reported that Russia fired 87 exploding drones and decoys in the newest wave of assaults in a single day into Saturday. It stated 33 of them have been intercepted and one other 36 have been misplaced, doubtless having been electronically jammed.
Russian assaults broken farms in the Odesa area and sparked fires in the Sumy area in a single day, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service stated Saturday. Fires have been contained, and no casualties have been reported.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense, in the meantime, stated its air protection techniques shot down two Ukrainian drones in a single day into Saturday (April 19, 2025).
Published – April 19, 2025 08:02 pm IST
