Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a brief Easter ceasefire in his war with Ukraine, saying “all hostilities” will pause for a two-day period.
There has been no immediate response from Ukraine, but if Kyiv accepts it will be the first pause in the conflict since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion.
Russian fighting will halt between 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday (11 a.m. ET) and midnight on Monday (5 p.m. Sunday ET), Putin said.
“We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example,” he added.
The truce will help Russia determine how sincere Kyiv is about wanting to reach a ceasefire, Putin said.
The announcement comes at a pivotal time for the war. On the ground, Russia continues to make gains, claiming the capture of another settlement in the Kursk border region while US-led peace efforts are stuttering.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the US was ready to “move on” from efforts to bring peace to Ukraine within days if there were no tangible signs of progress.
Ukraine has previously been skeptical about such temporary pauses in conflict, having rejected a temporary ceasefire in January 2023 believing that Russia had ulterior motives in calling for a stop to the fighting, such as using the pause to bring in more troops.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
