Russia and Ukraine Enter 32-Hour Orthodox Easter Ceasefire After Deadly Drone Strikes

A 32-hour ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine took effect Saturday at 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) along the entire front line, marking a pause in hostilities for Orthodox Easter proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and accepted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov received orders to cease combat operations in all directions for the duration of the truce, which runs through Sunday evening. Zelenskyy confirmed Ukraine would honor the ceasefire but issued a firm warning to Moscow.

„Ukraine will respect the ceasefire but will respond blow for blow to any Russian violation” — Volodymyr Zelenskyy via Courrier international

The truce came into force at the current hour, with both sides having exchanged accusations of violating similar past agreements.

Deadly drone barrages struck both sides hours before truce In the hours preceding the ceasefire, both sides carried out significant strikes. Russia launched at least 160 (drones) — Russian drones fired at Ukraine before the truce at Ukrainian territory overnight from Friday to Saturday, killing four people in the east and south of the country, according to Kyiv. Two of those deaths occurred in the Odesa region, where a Russian strike hit a residential area and damaged civilian infrastructure, local authorities reported. Russian bombardments also injured 14 people in the Sumy region in the northeast, where drones struck residential buildings near the Russian border, and 10 more people were injured in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. On the Ukrainian side, drone strikes targeting Russia's Krasnodar region in the south set fire to an oil depot and damaged residential buildings, according to local authorities there. Two people were also killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian-controlled territory in the Donetsk region, according to Moscow-installed authorities.

175 prisoners exchanged as diplomacy stalls over territorial demands Alongside the ceasefire, an exchange of 175 (prisoners of war) — POWs exchanged between Russia and Ukraine on Saturday took place on Saturday, April 11, according to France 24. The ceasefire comes against a backdrop of stalled diplomatic efforts led by the United States, with several rounds of negotiations failing to bring the two sides closer to an agreement. Washington's attention has shifted toward Iran, further slowing the peace process, according to Courrier international. Moscow has demanded territorial and political concessions from Kyiv that Zelenskyy has rejected. Zelenskyy had previously proposed a similar pause in hostilities himself, noting that broader ceasefire discussions had been derailed by the conflict in the Middle East.

A comparable Easter truce was announced in 2025, but both sides accused each other of violating it numerous times. Vladimir Putin also unilaterally declared a short ceasefire in May 2025 to mark the anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, and again both belligerents accused each other of continuing hostilities during that period. The Russia-Ukraine war has been ongoing since February 2022, and as of early 2026, peace talks were described as approximately 90 percent complete following rounds of negotiations in Florida in December 2025 and Paris in January 2026, with a 35-country coalition having pledged security guarantees to Ukraine.

Mutual accusations shadow every past truce attempt The credibility of the current ceasefire is clouded by the history of both sides accusing each other of violations during previous pauses. Ukrainians and Russians have mutually blamed one another for breaching every similar truce decreed since the full-scale invasion began, according to Courrier international. Zelenskyy's "blow for blow" warning reflects Kyiv's stated intention not to absorb violations passively this time. The Orthodox Easter period holds particular symbolic weight in both Russian and Ukrainian culture, which is why both sides have repeatedly used it as a moment to announce temporary ceasefires. The broader diplomatic process remains bogged down, with the ceasefire representing a short humanitarian pause rather than a step toward a formal settlement. The General Staff order issued to Gerasimov and Belousov covers all directions of the front simultaneously, making it the broadest such directive since the war began, though enforcement remains entirely dependent on field commanders on both sides.