Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Both sides acccused the other of breaking the truce last year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a two-day ceasefire to coincide with Orthodox Easter, according to TVP World cited by Digi24.
“Given the approaching Orthodox Easter holiday, a ceasefire is declared starting at 4:00 p.m. on April 11 until the end of the day on April 12,” a Kremlin statement said.
“We are starting from the premise that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation.”
According to the Kremlin, the military leadership has been oinstructed to halt all combat operations during the 32-hour window, but that the troops will be ready to respond to any “provocation” or “act of agression”.
In 2025, Putin announced a truce for Orthodox Easter as well – and it ended up with thousands of violations.
The 2025 Easter Truce
On April 20 2025, a 30-hour truce was set to be put into effect, but almost immediatly after the launch of the truce, allegations of a breach surfaced from both sides of the war.
The BBC reported on April 21 2025, that Ukrainian president, Volodomyr Zelenskyy, accused Russia of violating the truce almost 3000 times in total during the 30-hour window.
Al Jazeera reported on April 21 2025, that air sirens souded over Kyiv and several other Ukrainian regions mere hours after the truce was meant to start.
The outlet also cited the Russian Ministry of Defence for accusin Ukraine of violating the truce at least 1000 times.
2026: A deja vu?
CNN wrote in an analysis on April 21 2025, that the truce-announcement was a surprise, and that it was probably directly aimed at showing US president Donald Trump, that Russia is not the reason for the failing efforts at reaching a peace deal.
The situation on the battlefield in April 2026 is that the Russian forces are still unable to make any meaningful gains, and Ukraine has even been able to recapture territory under Russian control.
The Kremlin has also been unable to use the shifting focus to the war in Iran to create any momentum, and March saw the highest number of Russian casualties in a single month of the war so far.
The question is whether Putin will actually honor his self-imposed truce this time, or if he will use it to once again shift the blame to Ukraine.
Sources: The BBC, Al Jazeera, Digi24, CNN, Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
