Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce between Russia and Ukraine

It will begin on the afternoon of April 11 and will last until the end of the day on April 12

Vladimir Putin ordered a truce with Ukraine from 16:00 on April 11 until the end of the day on April 12. This is stated on the Kremlin website.

The statement said that Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov have already received orders to stop hostilities in all directions for this period.

“The troops should be ready to stop possible provocations from the enemy, as well as any of his aggressive actions. We proceed from the assumption that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation,” the Kremlin noted.

This morning, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Putin has not yet made any decisions on the Easter truce.

Right now, the special representative of the Russian President Kirill Dmitriev is in the United States and is meeting with representatives of the US Presidential Administration, writes Reuters.

According to the news agency, they are discussing a peace agreement on Ukraine and US-Russian economic cooperation.

Reuters notes that on April 11, the easing of sanctions against Russian oil, which allowed third countries to buy fuel if it was at sea before March 12, expires. The US may extend this authorization.

A similar truce was held last year. However, then Putin announced it day after day. Immediately after his speech in Kyiv, the air raid alarm sounded.

Despite this, Ukraine accepted the proposal, and the truce took place. Both sides reported violations of the ceasefire, but the intensity of hostilities actually decreased for a time. The military used the pause to evacuate the bodies of their dead colleagues.

A truce was one of Donald Trump's conditions for talks on the war in Ukraine last year, and Putin made his announcement a day after the US president threatened to abandon his mediation role in resolving the conflict.