Ukraine wary of Putin’s Easter truce and says it will reciprocate only a genuine ceasefire

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a press conference at BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov, Pool Photo via AP)

CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — Ukraine said it would reciprocate any genuine ceasefire by Moscow, but voiced skepticism after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary Easter truce in Ukraine starting Saturday.

The announcement from Kyiv came as Russia and Ukraine conducted their largest prisoner exchange since Moscow’s full-scale invasion started over three years ago. Putin announced a temporary Easter ceasefire in Ukraine starting Saturday, citing humanitarian reasons. According to the Kremlin, the ceasefire will last from 6 p.m. Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday to midnight (2100 GMT) following Easter Sunday.

Putin offered no details on how the ceasefire would be monitored or whether it would cover airstrikes or ongoing ground battles that rage around the clock.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said if Russia is genuinely ready to observe a full and unconditional ceasefire, Ukraine will mirror that approach and strike only in defense.

He said such a gesture, particularly over the Easter weekend, could reveal Moscow’s true intentions.

“If a full ceasefire truly takes hold, Ukraine proposes extending it beyond Easter Day on April 20,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “That will reveal Russia’s true intentions, as 30 hours are enough for headlines, but not for genuine confidence-building measures.”

Zelenskyy added that, according to military reports, Russian assaults and artillery fire continued along parts of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) long front line.

In response to the ceasefire announcement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Kyiv had in March “agreed unconditionally to the U.S. proposal of a full interim ceasefire for 30 days,” which Russia rejected.

“Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a ceasefire. 30 hours instead of 30 days,” Sybiha continued, writing on X. “Unfortunately, we have had a long history of his statements not matching his actions.”

Putin’s ceasefire announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding three-year war.

Largest POW exchange so far

The two sides meanwhile exchanged hundreds of POWs on Saturday. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that 246 Russian service members were returned from Ukraine, and 31 wounded Ukrainian POWs were transferred in exchange for 15 wounded Russian soldiers in need of urgent medical care.

Zelenskyy said that 277 Ukrainian “warriors” have returned home from Russian captivity.

Both sides thanked the United Arab Emirates for their mediation.

Most of the Ukrainians freed in the latest prisoner exchange are young people born after 2000, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said Friday.

Outside a hospital in Ukraine’s Northern Chernihiv region, where recently freed POWs were brought after the exchange at the border, dozens of relatives stood waiting.

Among them was 48-year-old Nataliia Lohvynchuk, who rushed toward the bus the moment it arrived. She hadn’t seen her son in three years, since he was captured during the battle for Mariupol in the spring of 2022.

Her son, 23-year-old Ihor Lohvynchuk, lost about 40 kilograms (88 pounds) in captivity. “It still doesn’t feel real,” he said softly. “We’re not really here yet. We all made it back, but we’re still not here.

His mother, overcome with emotion and embracing her son, issued a plea: “We call on the entire world, on every country -- help us bring all our boys home.”

Thousands of POWs remain in captivity. The exchange is the fourth this year and the 63rd since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Since the outbreak of the war, a total of 4,552 Ukrainians, both military and civilians, have been returned from captivity.

Russia says its forces have retaken nearly all of Kursk

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday its forces pushed Ukrainian troops from the village of Oleshnya, one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region, where the Ukrainians staged a surprise incursion last year.

Gerasimov said Saturday in a report to Putin, quoted by Russian state media, that Russia had retaken nearly all of the territory from Ukrainian forces.

“The main part of the region’s territory, where the invasion took place, has now been liberated. This is 1,260 square kilometers, 99.5%,” Gerasimov said.

Zelenskyy wrote on X that Ukrainian forces “continued their activity on the territory of the Kursk region and are holding their positions.” Ukraine also claimed that it holds a presence beyond the Kursk region in Russian territory with an aim of preventing the offensive on the Sumy region and to fight on enemy’s soil.

The Associated Press was unable to verify the claim immediately from Russia.

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 (11 kilometers) south of Oleshnya.

In other developments, the Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 87 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday. It said 33 of them were intercepted and another 36 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

Russian attacks damaged farms in the Odesa region and sparked fires in the Sumy region overnight, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Saturday. Fires were contained, and no casualties were reported.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down two Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday.