Zelensky: 'Russian strikes persist' after Putin announced Easter truce
· UPIApril 19 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday declared a 30-hour Easter truce with Ukraine through Sunday night, but Ukraine's President said late Saturday on X that "Russian strikes persist."
In a video, Putin said Russian troops will be ready to react if there are provocations or violations of the truce. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin made the announcement after meeting with Russia's Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, with the truce starting at 6 p.m. Ukrainian time and running through midnight Sunday.
"I order for this period to stop all military action," Putin said. "We are going on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow our example, while our troops must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions."
Russia's Defense Ministry said the truce was "guided by humanitarian considerations."
In early 2023, he announced an Orthodox Easter truce, though the BBC reported artillery fire didn't end.
Ukraine has yet to accept or reject the halt but Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Putin's words "cannot be trusted."
"Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a cease-fire. 30 hours instead of 30 days," Sybiha said. "Unfortunately, we have had a long history of his statements not matching his actions.
"We want to see Russian forces actually cease-fire in all directions. We also urge all of our partners and the international community to be vigilant," he said.
In a post on X, Zelensky said forces continued their activity in the Kursk region and "are holding their positions. In the Belgorod region, our warriors have advanced and expanded our zone of control."
"As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives -- at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine," he said. "At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun working to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin's true attitude toward Easter and toward human life."
In an update after the truce was to begin, Zelensky said that "hostilities continue, and Russian strikes persist. Russian artillery can still be heard in certain directions of the front, regardless of the Russian leader's promise of silence."
"Russian drones are in use," he said, but noted that "In some areas, the situation has become quieter."
Putin is accusing Ukraine of violating a 30-day agreement on pausing airstrikes on energy infrastructure in March that has already expired.
"We know that the Kyiv regime has violated the agreement on non-strikes on energy infrastructure more than 100 times," he said.
"If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say 'you're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people,' and we're going to just take a pass," U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday. "But hopefully we won't have to do that."
Earlier Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters "we're done" if the sides can't agree.
"I think it's important to remind everybody that the Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it's not our war, Rubio said. "We didn't start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for over the last three years, and we want it to end. But it's not our war."
"We've spent three years, billions of dollars supporting the Ukrainian side, and -- but now we've reached the point where we have other things we have to focus on," he added.
On Thursday, Rubio and other U.S. officials met with Ukrainian and European leaders in Paris for talks on the war. Rubio said he also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.
"The Secretary conveyed to his Russian counterpart the same message the U.S. team communicated to the Ukrainian delegation and our European allies in Paris: President Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace," Tammy Bruce, spokesperson for the State Department, said in a statement.
On March 1, Ukraine said it would accept a deal brokered by the United States that includes the U.S. investing in Ukraine's recovery in return for a share of the country's future profits from its natural resources, energy infrastructure, and oil and gas.
Ukraine has also said any peace agreement should include security guarantees by the United States, which Trump has declined to provide.
"What matters most now is that it is finally clear who has truly been the cause of this war all along," Zelensky said after the cease-fire. "The moment Putin actually ordered a reduction in the intensity and brutality of attacks, fighting and killings decreased. The sole cause of this war and of its prolongation lies in Russia."
Separately, Russia and Ukraine on Saturday announced a prisoner exchange.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it swapped 246 captured Ukrainian soldiers for the same number of Russian troops as a "gesture of goodwill," as well as 31 wounded Ukrainian troops for 15 wounded Russian servicemen, which Zelensky confirmed.
More than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war since the 2022 invasion, according to Zelensky, while the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reports that Russia has lost more than 915,000 troops.
According to United Nations, through the end of 2024, more than 12,340 civilians had been killed and 27,386 had been wounded since the invasion.