Russia Declares Temporary Easter Ceasefire; Ukraine Agrees

Russia declared a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine from April 11 through April 12 in observance of the Orthodox Easter holidays, the government stated.

“It is assumed that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation,” stated the president of Russia’s website.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would abide by the ceasefire.

“Ukraine has repeatedly stated that we are ready for mirror steps,” Zelenskyy said on his X account. “We proposed a ceasefire this year for the duration of the Easter holidays and will act accordingly. People need an Easter without threats and real progress toward peace, and Russia has a chance not to return to strikes even after Easter.”

Russia declared a three-day ceasefire in May 2025, but Ukraine accused Russia of continuing attacks during the ceasefire.

Ukraine stated that Russia committed 734 violations of the ceasefire on the first day, according to a statement released by Ukraine’s embassy in India.

“Such actions are evidence that the political leadership of Russia has lost control over its armed forces, and more broadly, Russia has once again proven itself to be an untrustworthy and unreliable terrorist state with no genuine interest in a real ceasefire or peace,” Ukraine said in a statement.

In April 2025, Russia accused Ukraine of violating the Easter ceasefire.

Since the war started in February 2022, Ukraine said 1.3 million Russians have been killed or injured, while 11,847 Russian tanks and 24,370 Russian armored fighting vehicles have been destroyed.

Russia said it has destroyed 671 Ukrainian aircraft, 284 helicopters, and 28,773 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles. The Russians have not provided an estimate of Ukraine’s human casualties.

In the four years of hostilities, there have been more than 15,000 civilians killed and more than 41,000 injured, according to the United Nations Human Rights report published in February.

That report stated Russian armed forces had “deliberately, repeatedly, and systemically” attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, knocking out more than half of the nation’s electricity generation capacity.

The United Nations’ report said that there were “serious violations” of international humanitarian law “particularly by Russian authorities.” The report also said that Russia had executed civilian detainees, and there was an increase in reports of executions of captured Ukrainian soldiers in 2025.

Russia has repeatedly denied violating international law.