During a meeting at the Kremlin with the Chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov President Vladimir Putin declared that the Russian Side is ceasing all military action starting April 19, 06:00 pm MSK to April 21, 00:00 am MSK

President Putin: Guided by humanitarian motives, the Russian Side announces an Easter ceasefire from 06:00 pm today to 00:00 am Monday. I hereby order all military operations ceased for this period. We assume that the Ukrainian Side will follow our example. At the same time, our forces should be prepared to repel possible ceasefire violations and provocations by the enemy, as well as any aggressive acts on their part.
[10:48 PM, 4/19/2025] President of Russia Vladimir Putin at a meeting with Chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov said the following:

Today is the eve of Easter and I would like to congratulate on this bright holiday, first and foremost, servicemen who are Orthodox Christians and who have been fighting for Russia.

I would like to wish a happy Easter to everyone in our country and around the world who celebrates, observes and respects this holiday.

👉 Regarding the Easter ceasefire

We are well aware of the fact the Kiev regime, as you reported to me, violated agreements on refraining from targeting energy infrastructure facilities more than a hundred times. Therefore, I ask you to be extremely attentive and focused to be ready to strike back in full.

☝️ Our decision on the Easter truce will demonstrate whether the Kiev regime is sincere, ready, willing and able to comply with the agreements, to participate in peace negotiations aimed at addressing the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis.

For our part, we have always been ready to move in this direction and strongly welcome the aspirations of the United States, President [of the United States] Trump, our Chinese friends, the President of the People’s Republic of China, the BRICS countries and all supporters of a just and peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.