Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary “Easter truce” in the three-year conflict in Ukraine that will last until midnight Sunday.
“Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin was quoted as saying by the Kremlin Press Service during a meeting with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“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 truce and provocations from the enemy, any of its aggressive actions,” Putin said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not immediately responded.
The announcement came on the same day Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces pushed Ukrainian forces from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region. Russian forces took control of the village of Oleshnya, on the border with Ukraine, the ministry said.
The Associated Press was unable to immediately verify the claim.
According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Russia is still fighting to push Ukrainian forces out of the village of Gornal, some 7 miles south of Oleshnya.
“The Russian military has yet to push the Ukrainian armed forces out of Gornal … in order to completely liberate the Kursk region. Fierce fighting is underway in the settlement,” the agency reported, citing Russian security agencies.
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