Russia will halt “all military operations” as part of an “Easter truce” in Ukraine, the Kremlin announced on Holy Saturday. The temporary ceasefire will last from 6 p.m. on Holy Saturday (Russian and Greek time) until midnight on Sunday, April 20.

The Ukrainian president, however, claimed that Russia was still conducting “offensive operations” hours after the Kremlin claimed the ceasefire would come into effect.

Volodymyr Zelensky shared a statement on X after his Russian counterpart said the ceasefire would last from 6 p.m. Saturday until midnight on Easter Sunday — both hours Moscow time.

“Based on humanitarian considerations… the Russian side declares an Easter truce,” Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

“I order a cessation of all military operations for this period.

“We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our troops must be ready to repel possible violations of the ceasefire and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions by them.”

Zelensky claimed that Russian attacks were continuing despite the announcement of the truce.

In a post, he wrote: “As of now… Russian offensive operations are continuing in a number of sectors of the front, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided. Therefore, there is no trust in the words coming from Moscow.”

The Ukrainian president said in the same statement that the US proposal for a “complete and unconditional ceasefire for 30 days” had gone “unanswered” by Russia for 39 days.

He added that Ukraine “responded positively” to the US proposal, but “Russia ignored it.”

Zelensky said that “if Russia is now suddenly ready to really engage in a form of complete and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly – mirroring Russia’s actions.”

“If a complete ceasefire really takes effect, Ukraine proposes to extend it beyond Easter Day, April 20,” he added.

“This is what will reveal Russia’s true intentions – because 30 hours is enough to make headlines, but not for real confidence-building measures. Thirty days could give peace a chance.”

Shortly after the ceasefire was announced, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sabiha said there was a “long history” of Putin’s words not “matching his actions.”

“We know that his words are not reliable and we will look at actions, not words,” he added.

The ceasefire announcement echoes a January 2023 announcement by Putin that his forces in Ukraine would observe a 36-hour truce for Orthodox Christmas.

At the time, Zelensky stopped short of saying his forces would reject Putin’s request, but dismissed the Russian move as a bid for time to regroup invasion forces and prepare additional attacks.

Prisoner exchange

Ukraine and Russia exchanged more than 500 prisoners of war on Saturday, the latest in a series of exchanges since Russia launched a full-scale invasion more than three years ago.

Zelensky, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said 277 Ukrainian servicemen had returned home from Russian captivity.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said 246 servicemen had been handed over by Kiev.

It said 31 more wounded prisoners of war had been handed over to Ukraine and 15 of its own wounded soldiers had also been returned from Kiev.

The developments come after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were “peaking” and insisted that “nobody is playing with me” in his bid to end the three-year war.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had left open the possibility that the US would stop mediation efforts to bring an end to the war.