Putin declares a day of Easter of a day in the Ukrainian war

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ordered his forces to “put an end to all military activities” against Ukraine from Saturday evening to Sunday, declaring a “Easter truce” which seemed to show an impatient administration of Trump that Moscow was always open to peace talks.

“We will assume that the Ukrainian part will follow our example,” said Putin at a television meeting on Saturday with his best military commander, General Valery V. Gerasimov.

Putin said kyiv’s response would highlight “desire, and, in fact, his capacity” to participate in negotiations to end the war.

In an article on social networks an hour after the announcement of Mr. Putin, President Volodymyr Zelensky, of Ukraine, described him as “Putin’s next attempt to play with people’s lives”. Mr. Zelensky did not specify if Ukraine would also observe a truce.

The air sirens sounded in kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, around 5 p.m. local time, an hour before the start of Mr. Putin’s ceasefire.

“Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already started working to defend itself,” said Zelensky. Referring to Russian drones designed by Iran, he continued: “Russian” shahed “in our heavens are Putin’s true attitude to Easter and people’s lives.”