Vladimir Putin’s words cannot be trusted, Ukraine’s foreign minister said after Russia proposed an “Easter truce”.
The Russian president said his military would cease “all military operations” for 30 hours, lasting from 6pm Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday to midnight (2100 GMT) on Sunday.
Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine has endured “a long history of his statements not matching his actions”.
“We know his words cannot be trusted and we will look at actions, not words,” he wrote on X
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said the truce was “another attempt to play with human lives”.
He highlighted how 45 minutes before the supposed ceasefire was meant to start, Russian kamikaze drones were still being launched into Ukrainian air space.
“Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life,” he wrote in a statement on X.
The proposal was seen by critics as a naked attempt from Putin to curry favour with US president Donald Trump who threatened on Friday to walk out of peace talks if no ceasefire agreement was reached soon.
A Kyiv-based MP says air raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital in the moments after Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce.
“Drones were entering Kyiv,” Lisa Yasko said before suggesting that the city witnessed a “one hour” attack.
“A ceasefire for one day, even if it happens, is like a joke,” she told the BBC.
Ms Yasko suggested that the surprise announcement could be a manoeuvre by the Russian president to appease the United States.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Kyiv had in March “agreed unconditionally to the U.S. proposal of a full interim ceasefire for 30 days,” which Russia rejected.
“Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a ceasefire. 30 hours instead of 30 days,” Mr Sybiha continued, writing on X.
Unfortunately, we have had a long history of his statements not matching his actions.
Putin’s ceasefire announcement came after US President Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding three-year war.
Trump spoke shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the U.S. may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
Ukraine last month agreed to Trump’s proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, only for Putin to reject it.
Putin’s administration has carried out lightning raids across Russia for several weeks in an “overtly aggressive’ attempt to enlist more fledgling recruits for the war in Ukraine.
During an evening workout at Spirit Fitness in south-east Moscow, gym-goers were suddenly told to drop to the floor.
According to witnesses, police divide those at the gym into citizens and non-citizens. Russians are taken to enlistment offices, where their military records are checked.
Read more here from Kieran Kelly
The Telegraph’s Associate Defence Editor Dom Nicholls gives his analysis below.
He’s made an announcement about military activity that may or may not happen, hoping to curry favour with Trump and try and make make Ukraine look bad to Trump if they continue fighting.
Ukraine agreed to Trump’s 30-day unconditional ceasefire over a month ago, Russia did not, strangely without consequences.
Putin shouldn’t get any applause now for this stunt.
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday held a large prisoner of war exchange, with each side handing back more than 240 prisoners, the Russian defence ministry said.
“On April 19… 246 Russian soldiers were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. In return 246 Ukrainian prisoners of war were handed over.
“Also as a good will gesture, 31 wounded prisoners of war were handed over in exchange for 15 wounded Russian prisoners of war needing urgent medical help,” the ministry said in a statement on social media.”
I have just received a report from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Today, our forces continued their activity on the territory of the Kursk region and are holding their positions. In the Belgorod region, our warriors have advanced and expanded our zone of control.
As for…
The Russian Ministry of Defence has released a statement confirming that Russia will stop all military operations from 18:00 Moscow time (16:00 BST) today until midnight on 21 April (22:00 BST).
The ministry says all military actions have been ordered to stop, adding that the decision was “guided by humanitarian considerations”.
They say they expect the Ukrainian side to do the same.
“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,” the ministry says in a statement that has been translated.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia fired 87 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday.
Anti-air measures managed to intercept 33 of them. Another 36 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.
Russian attacks damaged farms in the Odesa region and sparked fires in the Sumy region overnight, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Saturday. Fires were contained, and no casualties were reported.
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