By Mark Wyatt, stay information reporter
Welcome again to a different week of our stay protection of the battle in Ukraine and efforts to convey an finish to the preventing.
This is all the pieces you might want to know:
Putin’s ‘Easter truce’
Vladimir Putin shocked the world on Saturday when he introduced that he was ordering all of Moscow’s forces to put down their weapons for an “Easter truce”.
The Russian president stated his resolution was “guided by humanitarian issues” and that the momentary pause in preventing would final from 6pm native time on Saturday till the stroke of midnight final evening (10pm BST).
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Ukraine would reply to Putin’s ceasefire accordingly and meet “silence in response with silence”, however added that he would additionally authorise “defensive strikes in response to assaults” if Moscow had been to interrupt its truce.
The silence by no means got here, with Ukraine’s president reporting Russia shortly went again on its phrase, claiming there had been “dozens” of strikes on Ukrainian positions on Saturday evening and into yesterday morning (see our 7.01am submit).
The Kremlin hit again with its personal accusations, saying it had counted greater than 900 Ukrainian drone assaults, whereas insisting its navy teams had “strictly abided” by the ceasefire.
Some observers did report an easing of assaults on Ukraine’s main cities however hostilities continued elsewhere.
Sky’s navy analyst Sean Bell instructed three causes Putin proposed the truce – for his home picture as a peacemaker, to be able to transfer troops out of Kursk after largely reclaiming the Russian territory from Ukrainians, and as a gesture to please Donald Trump.
As Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett put it, Russia’s ceasefire appeared “extra like a diplomatic dance, reasonably than a navy, or ethical, manoeuvre”.
May US ‘stroll away’?
The US has made no secret of its rising frustration on the lack of progress in peace negotiations and Trump threatened to “take a move” on makes an attempt to achieve an settlement late final week.
That got here after his secretary of state Marco Rubio stated the US would possibly “stroll away” from talks after spending two months sitting down with each side on a number of events with little to indicate for it.
Rubio had simply completed a spherical of talks with Ukrainian and European officers in Paris alongside Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff.
Watch: US able to stroll away from peace efforts, Rubio says
Nonetheless, Russia’s “Easter truce” might need shifted views in Washington considerably, even when it was not broadly noticed. It might be performed off as the primary actual concession made by Moscow since Trump initiated peace negotiations two months in the past.
“It looks like Putin is giving Trump simply sufficient to maintain him on facet, with out truly making any main concession,” says Bennett.
Prisoner alternate
This Easter weekend additionally noticed Russia and Ukraine swap tons of of prisoners within the battle’s largest alternate thus far.
A complete of 277 Ukrainians returned from Russian captivity – a determine which incorporates 31 wounded prisoners of battle transferred in alternate for 15 wounded Russian servicemen in want of pressing medical care.
Russia’s defence ministry stated 246 Russian servicemen had been returned in complete.
Minerals deal
Trying ahead to the week forward, the US and Ukraine are anticipated to signal a long-awaited minerals deal.
Trump has pushed for a deal that may permit the US to share within the earnings of Ukraine’s pure assets and important minerals, one thing he casts as compensation for navy help offered by Washington to Kyiv since 2022.
The deal was anticipated to be performed weeks in the past however was derailed by Zelenskyy and Trump’s falling out on the White Home.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent stated the present deal was “considerably what we would agreed on beforehand”.
That earlier settlement was by no means printed, however particulars had been shared by Ukrainian media on the time.
It envisaged Ukraine contributing 50% of its future proceeds from state-owned mineral assets, oil and gasoline to an funding fund, which might be used “to advertise the protection, safety and prosperity of Ukraine”.
Battlefield newest
Moscow’s navy chief of employees Valery Gerasimov informed Vladimir Putin over the weekend that Russian troops had retaken greater than 99% of the territory seized by Ukraine within the Kursk area in an incursion launched in August.
These maps present the most recent territorial state of affairs, indicating how a lot floor is held by Russian and Ukrainian forces:
And for those who missed the most recent Q&A session with Professor Michael Clarke speaking all issues Russia and Ukraine, you possibly can watch it in full right here:
