Putin declares unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine, Zelenskyy calls it ‘playing with lives’
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, ordering his forces to end hostilities at 6 p.m. Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday until the end of Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a social media post Saturday responded skeptically to the proposed truce by Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of trying to “play with human lives.”
“As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives — at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Shahed (attack) drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life,” the president added, without saying whether Ukraine would observe the proposed truce.
“Based on humanitarian considerations … the Russian side announces an Easter truce. I order a stop to all military activities for this period,” Putin told his military chief, Valery Gerasimov, at a meeting in the Kremlin.
“We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions,” Putin added.
The Russian defense ministry said it had given instructions on the ceasefire to all group commanders in the area of the “special military operation,” the Kremlin’s term for the war.
Russian troops will adhere to the ceasefire provided it is “mutually respected” by Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Saturday that Ukraine could not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin over his declaration of an Easter ceasefire and added that Kyiv stood by its original agreement to abide by a 30-day ceasefire.
“Ukraine’s position remains clear and consistent: back in Jeddah on March 11, we agreed unconditionally to the US proposal of a full interim ceasefire for 30 days,” Minister Andrii Sybiha said on the X social media platform.
“Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a ceasefire. 30 hours instead of 30 days.”
“Russia can agree at any time to the proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which has been on the table since March…. We know his words cannot be trusted and we will look at actions, not words.”
