On the evening of April 9, Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce from 4:00 p.m. on April 11 until the end of April 12. The article says the decision came after the Kremlin had effectively rejected a Ukrainian proposal for a ceasefire over Easter.
According to the author, the nearly 30-hour pause was tied to the church calendar: on April 11 the broadcast of the Holy Fire ceremony ends, and on April 12 Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter. In Ukraine, many services have been moved to the morning because of martial law, while Russian Orthodox churches usually hold them at night.
The Kremlin immediately said the ceasefire could end in the event of “provocations” or “aggressive actions.” Kyiv, in turn, recalled that Volodymyr Zelensky had spoken as early as March 30 about stopping hostilities for Easter. That initiative was later backed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
“People need an Easter without threats and real movement toward peace, and Russia has a chance not to return to strikes after Easter,” the outlet says in describing Zelensky’s response.
The publication notes that a similar Easter truce in 2025 also lasted about 30 hours, but both sides then accused each other of repeated violations. Against that backdrop, the author links the current move to the broader dispute over the position of the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill, who, the article says, has consistently supported Russia’s wartime line.
The piece also mentions the reaction of church bodies to unofficial street Easter processions advertised on social media. The Russian Orthodox Church described them as a possible provocation, while the article presents the episode as another sign of Easter becoming politicized in Russia.