Russia and Ukraine have agreed to 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced the 32-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Easter, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirming that Ukraine will honour it.
The Kremlin disclosed that the pause in fighting will begin at 4pm Moscow time (13:00GMT) on Saturday and run until midnight on Sunday, covering Easter celebrations observed in both countries. The Kremlin said in a statement, “We proceed on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation.”
The Kremlin statement announcing the ceasefire added that Russian forces were ordered “to halt combat operations on all fronts during this period,” but added that the troops “are to be ready to repel any possible provocations by the adversary, as well as any aggressive actions on its part.”
Zelenskyy said in a social media post that Ukraine had already proposed a similar pause and would act in kind.
“Ukraine has repeatedly stated that we are ready for reciprocal steps. We proposed a ceasefire during the Easter holiday this year and will act accordingly. People need an Easter without threats and a real move towards peace, and Russia has a chance not to return to attacks even after Easter.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy has repeatedly pushed for temporary ceasefires, including a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, but said that Moscow had largely rejected proposals.
He added that Ukraine now faces growing pressure, both on the battlefield and from international partners. “This spring–summer period will be quite difficult politically and diplomatically,” Zelenskyy said.
“There may be pressure on Ukraine. There will also be pressure on the battlefield.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
He warned that the coming months could prove decisive, as Kyiv confronts both sustained Russian attacks and shifting geopolitical priorities among its allies. “I believe it will be very difficult for us until September,” he said.
Orthodox Easter holds deep religious and cultural importance across Eastern Europe and parts of the former Soviet Union. Churches in both Russia and Ukraine observe the holiday with special services and gatherings, and calls for temporary truces during major religious holidays have periodically surfaced since the war began.
This weekend’s planned ceasefire echoes a similar, short-lived pause declared by Moscow last year, which both sides accused each other of breaching.
For now, the announcements from Moscow and Kyiv suggest that both governments are willing to allow the brief humanitarian pause tied to the Easter holiday. Whether the ceasefire will hold for the full 32 hours remains uncertain, but the mutual acknowledgement from both presidents indicates a shared recognition of the holiday’s significance.
Hours after the announcement, the Governor of Dnipropetrovsk region said that Russian artillery and aerial attacks had killed two people. “The enemy attacked three districts of the region almost 30 times with drones and artillery,” Oleksandr Ganzha said on Telegram on Friday.
Despite the limited pause, humanitarian channels between the two sides remain active. According to reports, Russia and Ukraine recently carried out another exchange of soldiers’ remains. Moscow handed over the remains of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers to Kiev in exchange for 41 bodies of the Russians.
More than 500 bodies of Russian servicemen have been returned this year during these regular exchanges and over 19,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers have been returned to Kyiv.
These exchanges, often mediated by Turkiye, remain one of the few functioning lines of communication between the warring sides, alongside periodic prisoner swaps.
Ceasefire Not A Sign Of Reigniting Peace Talks
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow had not discussed the Easter proposal in advance with the United States, nor did it signal any immediate revival of three-way peace talks.
The ceasefire comes as wider diplomatic efforts to end the war remain stalled, with attention in Washington shifting towards escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Recent US-led efforts to broker an end to the four-year war have so far failed to halt the fighting, and its attention has shifted to conflicts in the Middle East. Moscow’s demands Ukraine give up territory claimed by Russia has long been a sticking-point in negotiations.
Russia is occupying around 20% of the territory recognized under international law as part of sovereign Ukraine, including Crimea, almost all of the Luhansk region, and parts of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Moscow’s longstanding maximalist demands include Ukraine surrendering the entirety of these four regions, which it has annexed but not fully conquered.
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