Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country will abide by a 30-hour Easter cease-fire called by Moscow, but he accused Russia of already violating the truce by launching drone and artillery attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Separately, Kyiv and Moscow announced a major swap of prisoners-of-war on April 19, with more than 200 men being exchanged by each side
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Hundreds Of Ukrainians Return Home In Latest Prisoner Swap With Russia
On the battlefield, Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had pushed Ukrainian troops from one of the last remaining villages they held in the Kursk region, which Ukraine had invaded more than eight months ago.
Kyiv had no immediate comment on the claim about retaking the Kursk region village of Oleshnya, on the border with Ukraine.
If confirmed, however, it would move Russian troops closer to fully expelling Ukrainian troops from Kursk, which has been a persistent embarrassment for the Kremlin.
With Orthodox and Western Easter falling on the same day -- April 20 -- this year, Putin used a televised meeting with his top military commander to announce he was calling a two-day truce.
The cease-fire, Putin said, would begin at 5 p.m. Prague time and run until midnight on Eastern Sunday, April 20.
“We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example," he said while meeting General Valery Gerasimov.
"At the same time, our troops must be ready to repel any possible violations of the truce or provocations from the enemy, any of its aggressive actions."
Zelenskyy quickly labeled the call "yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives."
Attack "drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life," Zelenskyy said in a post to X.
SEE ALSO: Russian Forces Are Advancing In The Donbas. Ukraine's Response? Invade Russia.Zelenskyy said the short timeframe for the truce indicated Putin was not serious about ending the fighting and suggested the cease-fire be extended for 30 days instead.
“If Russia is now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly — mirroring Russia’s actions,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
"If the complete cease-fire truly holds, Ukraine proposes an extension beyond April 20," Zelensky wrote.
“That is what will reveal Russia’s true intentions — because 30 hours is enough to make headlines, but not for genuine confidence-building measures. Thirty days could give peace a chance,” the Ukrainian leader added.
Putin's proposal follows signals from US President Donald Trump and other US officials complaining about the slow progress in talks to resolve the Ukraine war, now in its fourth year.
Trump on April 18 said the Ukraine and Russia talks are “coming to a head” and he insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the conflict.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, warnedthat the United States may “move on” from trying to secure a peace deal if there is no progress in coming days.
Putin has made holiday cease-fire proposals in the past. In January 2023, Putin ordered a 36-hour cease-fire for Orthodox Christmas. Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian call as playing for time to regroup its forces.
While Russian troops claimed painstaking progress against Ukrainian troops in Kursk, further to the east, Ukrainian troops continued to hold small slices of territory in Belgorod, another Russian border region.
Zelenskyy and his top military commander, General Oleksandr Syrskiy, announced the incursion into Belgorod last week.
With the weather turning, and sodden battlefield soil firming up, both Russia and Ukraine have launched small scale spring offensives.
SEE ALSO: Russia Launches Spring Offensive As Ukraine Invades Belgorod RegionRussia’s Defense Ministry also said on April 19 that its troops were trying to push Ukrainian forces out of Gornal, another Kursk region village some 11 kilometers to the south of Oleshnya.
Despite tentative agreement on a limited cease-fire, Kyiv and Moscow have continued to pound one another with missiles and drones. Over the past week, Russian ballistic missiles have hit several civilian targets, killing or wounding scores of civilians.
In Kupyansk, a city east of Kharkiv that Russian troops have been struggling to advance on, Russian jets reportedly dropped more than a half-dozen "glide" bombs on targets in and around the city. The city's military administrator said at least five people were wounded.
SEE ALSO: Swarmed By Drones, Ukrainian Troops Fight To Hold Ground Near KupyanskGlide bombs are heavy bombs that are retrofitted with guidance systems, allowing them to be dropped by aircraft well out of range of Ukrainian air defense systems. Russian forces have used the weapons to devastating effect on Ukrainian defenses.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched nearly eight dozen drones overnight on April 19. More were either intercepted or jammed electronically, the military claimed.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defense systems shot down two Ukrainian drones overnight.
Ukrainian and Russian officials also announced a major prisoner swap, with each side handing back more than 240 men, according to Russian authorities.
Zelenskyy said 277 Ukrainian "warriors" were returned from Russian captivity.