Russia and Ukraine announce 32-hour Easter truce: All you should know

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a temporary ceasefire over Orthodox Easter The truce is expected to begin on Saturday afternoon and last until Sunday nightAccording to the Kremlin Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the pause in fighting late Thursday The ceasefire comes more than a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had already called for a holiday truce The announcement also comes at a time when USled efforts to restart peace talks remain stalledThe Easter truce offers a brief pause in one of the worldrsquos longest and most destructive conflicts But with deep mistrust ongoing fighting and stalled diplomacy the chances of lasting peace remain uncertainA short pause in a long war What does it includeThe Kremlin said the ceasefire will run from 400 pm 1300 GMT on Saturday until the end of Sunday lasting about 32 hoursRussian officials said Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and military chief Valery Gerasimov have been instructed to ldquocease hostilities in all directions during this periodrdquo The Kremlin also said ldquoWe assume that the Ukrainian side will follow the Russian Federationrsquos examplerdquo reported AFPUkraine responded cautiously President Zelenskyy said Ukraine had already supported the idea of an Easter ceasefire and would act accordingly stating ldquoWe proposed a ceasefire for the Easter holidays this year and will act accordinglyrdquoHowever Russia denied any prior coordination with Ukraine or the United States on the trucePrevious ceasefires and mistrustThis is not the first temporary pause in fighting A similar 30hour Easter truce was announced last year but both sides accused each other of violating it multiple times Ukraine reported fewer Russian airstrikes during that period but fighting still continued on the groundRussia has also announced other short truces including one during its May 9 holiday which Ukraine strongly criticised as politically motivatedUkraine has repeatedly called for a longterm and unconditional ceasefire but Russia has rejected this saying it wants a final peace settlement instead Kyiv in turn argues that Moscow is not serious about peace and instead wants Ukraine to surrenderWhat is happening on the battlefieldThe fighting has continued for more than four years but Russiarsquos recent advances have slowed reported the news agencyReports based on military data suggest that Russian forces made almost no territorial gains last monthmdashthe slowest pace in over two years In March Russia reportedly captured only about 23 square kilometres along the front lineRussia currently controls just over 19 percent of Ukraine including territory taken during the early stages of the 2022 invasion About seven percent including Crimea and parts of Donbas was already under Russian or separatist control before the warPeace talks remain stalledUSled diplomatic efforts to end the war have slowed in recent monthsEarlier negotiations were held in cities like Abu Dhabi and Geneva but talks have not progressed since late February Both sides have shown willingness to resume discussions but major differences remainOne key issue is territory Ukraine has proposed freezing the war along current front lines while Russia insists Ukraine must give up all of Donetsk region territories currently under its controlAnother unresolved issue is control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which has been under Russian control since the early days of the warHopes for peace remain limitedUkraine has said it is ready to observe the ceasefire although public scepticism remains high Ukrainersquos foreign minister Andriy Sybiga said ldquoWe believe that a ceasefire is the right strategy to advance diplomatic effortsrdquo as per AFPHowever analysts believe the truce is unlikely to last beyond Easter Russian analyst Konstantin Kalachev described it as ldquoshortlivedrdquo saying Russia is not ready to soften its demandsSome proRussian commentators suggested the pause could help recover bodies and wounded soldiers from the battlefield where drone warfare has made evacuation difficultWith APF Inputs