Kremlin rejects Zelenskyy’s Easter ceasefire push as Russian attacks continue

“In those statements by Zelenskyy that we read, we did not see a clearly defined initiative regarding an Easter ceasefire. As always, he spoke about readiness and a desire to agree to a ceasefire — any kind, even an Easter one. That is what President Zelenskyy was talking about,” Peskov said.

The Kremlin again rejected a ceasefire and said Zelenskyy “must take responsibility and make the appropriate decisions so that we reach peace, not a ceasefire.”

On March 30, Zelenskyy told reporters that he was ready for any format of ceasefire, including one for Easter.

“We are ready to talk, as you remember, about any ceasefire. A full ceasefire. An energy ceasefire. A ceasefire on food security and energy, meaning both the sea and the sky. Fully — so that no missiles or drones fly. No strikes on infrastructure. We proposed all of this. And we are open. If the ‘russkies’ are ready — please, we are ready. Let them propose it for any period of time — we are ready to resolve this issue,” the Ukrainian president said.

Last year, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said he had ordered all hostilities to stop from 6 p.m. on April 19 until midnight on April 21.

Zelenskyy responded to Putin’s statement about an Easter ceasefire by noting that Russian attack drones had been detected over Ukrainian territory starting at 5:15 p.m., reflecting the Russian dictator’s true attitude toward Easter and human life. Zelenskyy called Putin’s words “another attempt to play with people’s lives” and said Ukrainian air defenses and aviation had already begun operating to defend against the Russian attack.

Later, Zelenskyy said he agreed to a ceasefire if “complete silence truly reigns” and said Ukraine would respond in kind. He also proposed extending the ceasefire beyond Easter Sunday.

On the morning of April 20, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that between 6 p.m. on April 19 and midnight on April 20, there had been 387 instances of shelling and 19 Russian assaults. In addition, Russian forces used drones 290 times. As of 6 a.m. on April 20, there had already been 59 Russian shelling incidents and five assaults by Russian units across different sectors of the front.