Moscow, Apr 19: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday declared an Easter truce for the ongoing Ukraine conflict. The ceasefire will be in effect from 18:00 Moscow time on April 19 until 00:00 Moscow time on April 21 - a total of 30 hours, the Russian media reported.

It was announced by Putin following a meeting with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. Moscow said it hopes that Kyiv will follow its example and also cease fire. "Ukraine's reaction will show how sincerely it wants and is able to participate in peace talks," Putin noted. The Kremlin, according to Russian news agency Tass, maintained that since the earlier moratorium on attacks on energy facilities declared for 30 days from March 18 was violated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces "more than 100 times", the Russian forces must be ready to repel attacks if Ukraine violates the Easter truce.

"I order that all military actions be stopped for this period. We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. Russian troops must be prepared to repel possible violations of the ceasefire and provocations from the enemy, any of its aggressive actions. We know that the Kyiv regime has violated the agreement not to strike energy infrastructure more than 100 times, as you reported to me," said Putin after his meeting with Gerasimov.

On Friday, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a telephonic conversation with the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US President Donald Trump said that he expects to get Russia's response on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine over the weekend. "We're going to be hearing from them this week, very shortly, actually. I think we're getting close, but we'll let you know very soon," Trump told reporters at the White House.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow's readiness to continue collaborative efforts with American counterparts to comprehensively address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis. Secretary Rubio, who was in Paris, informed the Russian side about the recent engagements that he and US President's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had in the French capital.

"These discussions involved representatives from Ukraine, France, and several other European nations. It was underscored that these contacts were in alignment with the framework of ongoing consultations between Washington and Moscow, including the recent dialogue between President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff in Saint Petersburg," read the statement.

Russia's envoy to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya, meanwhile, said that a ceasefire in Ukraine is "unrealistic" at this point, as Kyiv fails to honour the moratorium on striking energy infrastructure. "We had an attempt at a limited ceasefire concerning energy infrastructure, which was not observed by the Ukrainian side. Under these circumstances, it is simply unrealistic to talk about a ceasefire at this point," he told reporters.

(IANS)

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