Putin orders ceasefire in Ukraine for Easter

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered his troops to maintain an Easter ceasefire in Ukraine starting this evening and ending at midnight on Sunday, and called on Kiev to respect this truce.

"Today, from 6 p.m. until midnight on Sunday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce," the Russian leader said in a television broadcast.

Putin, who made this announcement after meeting with Chief of General Staff Valeri Gerasimov, expressed confidence that Ukraine would join the Easter truce, the Kremlin stressed on its Telegram channel.

Although Volodymyr Zelensky has not yet responded to the Russian president's announcement of a temporary Easter ceasefire, the Ukrainian president posted an update on X regarding the Kursk region. Zelensky has stated that Ukrainian troops are holding their positions there after Russia reported the recapture of this land hours earlier.

In a more recent post he revealed that hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers had been liberated by Russian troops. "Our people are home—one of the best pieces of news that can be. Another 277 warriors have returned home from Russian captivity," he commented on the same social network alongside images of his fighters.

There are no details if this action is part of the truce proposed by Russia.

U.S. threatens to withdraw from negotiations to end war in Ukraine

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Friday to withdraw from negotiations to end the war in Ukraine if he sees no progress between the parties.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said Washington would step aside if peace between Moscow and Kiev was "not feasible."

"Yes, very soon," Trump told reporters in the White House Oval Office when asked if he confirmed this. "I have no specific number of days, but quickly, we want to get it done," the Republican added nearly 100 days into his return to office.

Trump refused to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, or his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. But he insisted that both sides have to move forward.

Before returning to power in January, Trump said he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours.

Ceasefire at energy facilities 'expired'

The Kremlin on Friday deemed that the 30-day moratorium on shelling energy infrastructure has "expired."

The details of the agreement were never entirely clear: neither when it began to apply nor for how long it would be extended nor under what conditions.

The Russians announced it on March 18 after Trump and Putin spoke on the phone, but the Ukrainians made reference to it days later after talks with the Americans.

Moreover, since then, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other almost daily of violating the deal.