Featured Image Credit: VALERY SHARIFULIN/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, World News
Jess Battison
Topics: Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, World News
Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine.
Russian media have reported that the President has declared an Easter truce with it currently unclear if Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accepted the terms.
Shared by the Kremlin's press service, Putin said at a meeting with the chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov, that ceasefire will last from 6pm today (19 April) (4pm UK time) until midnight (10pm UK time) on Monday.
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It says: "Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 to midnight from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce. I order all military actions to be stopped for this period."
The Kremlin assumes Ukraine will follow its example as the video shared online sees Putin outline that Russia's troops will be ready to react if the truce is violated.
"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 during the meeting.
The defence ministry's statement also says Gerasimov 'has instructed all commanders of groups in the special military operation zone' for the Easter period outlined.
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"The ceasefire is being introduced for humanitarian purposes and will be observed by the Russian Joint Group of Troops (Forces), provided that it is mutually observed by the Kyiv regime," it adds.
Today's news comes as Russian forces claimed they had pushed Ukrainian forces from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region.
According to the defence ministry, its forces took control of the village of Oleshnya, on the border with Ukraine.
“Units of the North military group have liberated the village of Oleshnya in the Kursk region during active offensive operations,” it said in a statement.
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The Associated Press were unable to immediately verify Russia's claim and there wasn't a immediate response from Ukrainian officials.
This isn't the first time an 'Easter truce' has been proposed in the war with Ukraine.
Only months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, a truce like this one was proposed between 21 and 25 April 2022.
Despite the proposal from the UN Secretary-General, it didn't go ahead as while Ukraine said it agreed, Russia did not 'in order not to give the Kyiv nationalists a break'.