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Russia-Ukraine war update: Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, ordering his forces to end hostilities at 6 p.m. Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday until the end of Sunday. "Based on humanitarian considerations ... the Russian side announces an Easter truce. I order a stop to all military activities for this period," Putin told his military chief, Valery Gerasimov, at a meeting in the Kremlin. "We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions," Putin added.

Zelenskyy calls ceasefire announcement as Putin's tactic

However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the "Easter Ceasefire" announced by his Russian counterpart as a "tactic" to play with human lives. He alleged that Russian drones were detected on the Ukrainian side at 17:15. "As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives—at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine. At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defence and aviation have already begun working to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

"Today, our forces continued their activity on the territory of the Kursk region and are holding their positions. In the Belgorod region, our warriors have advanced and expanded our zone of control," he added.

Trump's ultimatum to end Russia-Ukraine War

The development came nearly a day after the United States said it would walk away from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon. On Friday, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said echoed the same statement. "Quickly, we want to get it done," Trump told reporters at the White House. "Now if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say, 'you're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people, and we're going to just take a pass. But hopefully, we won't have to do that." Trump's comments followed remarks by Rubio, his top diplomat, who said the sides had just days to show progress or Washington would walk.

"We're not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks," Rubio said in Paris after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders. "If it's not possible, if we're so far apart that this is not going to happen, then I think the president is probably at a point where he's going to say, 'well, we're done'." Trump, when asked, declined to set a specific deadline for how long he was willing to wait.

(With inputs from agency)

Also Read: US May Recognise Russian Rule Over Crimea In New Peace Deal: Report Reveals Major Twist In Ukraine War Talks