Putin declares unilateral 30-hour Easter ceasefire

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday declared a 30-hour unilateral ceasefire for the conflict in Ukraine.

Meeting in the Kremlin with Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Putin said the ceasefire would begin at 6 pm Moscow time on Saturday and conclude at 12 midnight on Sunday.

"For humanitarian reasons, the Russian side is declaring an Easter (Sunday) ceasefire today … I order a halt to all military operations for this period," he said.

The president stressed his expectation that the opposing party would participate in this initiative, stating that the ceasefire’s success or failure would demonstrate Ukraine's readiness and capacity to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

"Russian troops must be prepared to repel possible violations of the ceasefire and provocations by the opponent," he said.

The previous 30-day moratorium on military strikes on energy infrastructure showed a clear absence inclination by Kyiv towards finding solutions via peaceful negotiations, he said, adding that Ukrainian forces had breached it over 100 times.