Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a brief, 30-hour ceasefire in the ongoing war with Ukraine, timed to coincide with Easter Sunday. In a televised meeting with his military chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, Putin declared the truce would start at 6 p.m. Moscow time (3 p.m. GMT) and run until midnight Sunday. “Guided by humanitarian considerations,” he said, “I order all military actions to be stopped for this period.” But the announcement, meant to signal a pause for the Christian holiday, landed with a thud in Ukraine, where leaders and locals dismissed it as a hollow gesture amid a conflict that’s dragged on for over three years.
Putin framed the truce as a chance for peace, urging Ukraine to “follow our example” and suggesting Kyiv’s response would show whether it’s serious about a settlement. He wasn’t all olive branches, though—he told Gerasimov to keep troops ready to “repel any violations or provocations” from Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry echoed this, saying the ceasefire would hold only if Kyiv played along. Meanwhile, they reported a prisoner swap the same day, with 246 soldiers exchanged on each side, mediated by the UAE—a rare bit of cooperation amid the fighting.
Ukraine wasn’t buying it. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha took to X, saying Putin’s “words cannot be trusted” and pointing to a “long history” of mismatched actions. “Only actions, not words, reveal the truth,” he wrote, urging the world to stay vigilant. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was even sharper, accusing Putin of “playing with human lives” during the holiday. He pointed out that Russian drones were attacking Ukraine that very night, calling it proof of Moscow’s real attitude toward Easter. “Putin’s trying to look like the peacemaker, but his missiles don’t take holidays,” one Kyiv resident, Olena, told a local reporter, her voice heavy with distrust.
This isn’t Putin’s first holiday truce offer. Back in January 2023, he called a 36-hour Orthodox Christmas ceasefire, but it fell apart fast—both sides traded blame for violations. A 2022 Easter truce proposal didn’t even get off the ground. Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Kyiv, said locals see this latest move as a “publicity stunt” to buy goodwill with the White House, especially with U.S. President Donald Trump pushing hard for a broader peace deal. “Ukrainians feel Russia says one thing and does another,” Basravi noted, citing officials and bloggers who think Putin’s just stalling.
The timing’s no accident. Trump’s been leaning on both sides to agree to a 30-day ceasefire, a plan Ukraine accepted in March but Russia’s dodged with conditions like halting Western arms to Kyiv or demilitarizing Ukraine—terms Kyiv calls nonstarters. Trump’s team, frustrated by the lack of progress, warned Friday they might “take a pass” on peace talks if things don’t move soon. Some see Putin’s Easter truce as a low-effort way to keep Trump onside without committing to anything big. “It’s a diplomatic dance,” Sky News analyst Michael Clarke wrote, noting it’s the first real pause Moscow’s offered since Trump started negotiating two months ago.
But the war’s reality undercuts the gesture. Ukraine’s air force reported fending off eight Russian missiles and 87 drones overnight Saturday, with damage in five regions. Russia’s been pushing hard in Kursk, retaking nearly all the territory Ukraine seized last August. Gerasimov told Putin they’ve reclaimed 99% of it, a claim Kyiv disputes but admits is mostly true. On X, reactions ranged from cautious hope to outright cynicism. One user called it “Putin tossing crumbs to look good,” while another said, “Zelenskyy’s right—drones don’t stop for Easter.”
For regular people, it’s another day of holding their breath. In Ukraine, families are huddled in bomb shelters, not church pews, this Easter. In Russia, some hope the truce signals a step toward peace, but others, like pro-war voices online, grumble it’s too soft. Whether the ceasefire holds—or means anything at all—depends on what happens next. If history’s any guide, don’t bet on quiet skies just yet.