Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
According to the Kremlin, the ceasefire will last from 6 p.m. Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday to midnight (2100 GMT) following Easter Sunday.
“Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 to 00:00 from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce. I order that all military actions be stopped for this period,” Putin said at a meeting 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,” Putin said.
The announcement came on the same day as Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces pushed Ukrainian forces from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region. Russian forces took control of the village of Oleshnya, on the border with Ukraine, the ministry said.
The Associated Press was unable to immediately verify the claim and there was no immediate response from Ukrainian officials.
