Russia’s President Vladimir Putin declared a 32-hour ceasefire in Ukraine for the Orthodox Easter weekend, according to a Kremlin decree released Thursday. The decree orders Russian forces to observe the pause beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday and continuing through the end of Sunday, AP reported.
The announcement came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a holiday pause earlier in the week. Zelenskyy suggested each side stop targeting the other’s energy infrastructure over the Easter weekend, and he said he made the offer through the United States, which has been mediating talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv as Russia’s invasion enters a fifth year.
The Kremlin’s statement accompanying Putin’s decree said that “orders have been issued for this period to cease hostilities in all directions.” It added that “troops are to be prepared to counter any possible provocations by the enemy, as well as any aggressive actions.”
The decree also said Moscow “assume[s] that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation,” AP reported. There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the ceasefire announcement at the time of the report.
AP noted that previous attempts to secure ceasefires have had little or no impact. Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but both sides accused each other of breaking it.
Russia has also rejected a broader 30-day unconditional truce proposed last year by the U.S. and Ukraine as a step toward peace, instead insisting on a comprehensive settlement. Even with that position, Moscow has announced several short, unilateral ceasefires.
The U.S.-led talks referenced by the AP report have made no progress on key issues, and Washington’s attention has shifted to the Middle East conflict while the Russian and Ukrainian armies remain engaged along a roughly 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line.