MOSCOW, April 19: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced a surprise Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine to last until midnight on Sunday.
The short-term order to Russia's troops to halt all combat activity -- which Ukraine has not said if it will match -- comes after months of US President Donald Trump pushing both Moscow and Kyiv to agree a truce.
He has so far failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin.
"Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce," Putin said in televised comments during a meeting with the Russian chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.
Air raid alerts blasted across Ukraine on Saturday afternoon, including in the capital Kyiv, but ended right as Putin's order apparently came into force.
Easter, a major holiday for Christians, is celebrated on Sunday.
"I order for this period to stop all military action," Putin said, calling the truce motivated by "humanitarian reasons".
"We are going on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow our example, while our troops must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions," Putin said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a social media post responded sceptically to the truce proposal accused Putin of attempting to "play with human lives".
He did not say whether Ukraine would halt fighting during the period.
Putin announces 'Easter truce' in Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday also held a large prisoner of war exchange, with each side handing back more than 240 prisoners of war, according to the Russian defence ministry.
Putin said that Gerasimov had told him Ukraine "more than 100 times... breached an agreement on not striking energy infrastructure".
Russia on Friday abandoned a moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy targets after each side accused the other of breaking a supposed deal without any formal agreement put in place.
The latest truce proposal will show "how sincere is the Kyiv's regime's readiness, its desire and ability to observe agreements and participate in a process of peace talks," Putin said.
Zelensky wrote on X that the truce proposal came as air raid alerts were announced in Ukraine due to drone attacks.
"As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives -- at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine," Zelensky wrote on X, some 15 minutes before the order came into force.
"Shahed (attack) drones in our skies reveal Putin's true attitude toward Easter and toward human life," the president added, without saying whether Ukraine would observe the proposed truce.
The air alert in Kyiv stopped right at 1500 GMT.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
Ukraine last month agreed to Trump's proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, only for Putin to reject it.
- Prisoner swap -
The defence ministry in Moscow announced Saturday that it had returned "246 Russian soldiers" being held as prisoners of war in a swap.
"In return 246 Ukrainian prisoners of war were handed over," the ministry said in a statement on social media.
"Also as a good will gesture, 31 wounded prisoners of war were handed over in exchange for 15 wounded Russian prisoners of war needing urgent medical help," the ministry added.
Gerasimov also said Russian troops had retaken over 99 percent of territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region in an incursion launched in August.
"In the areas of the Kursk region where Ukraine armed force mounted an incursion, the main part of the territory... is now liberated. That's 1,260 square kilometres, 99.5 percent," Gerasimov told Putin.
US deports four more Nepalis as crackdown on illegal immigrants continues
KATHMANDU, April 19: A total of four Nepali nationals who were deported from the United States arrived at the Tribhuvan International Airport on Saturday. With their deportation, a total of 67 Nepali nationals have been deported from the US by the Donald Trump administration.
According to the airport authorities, a chartered flight carrying three of the deportees landed at the TIA at 4 pm while one of them returned to Nepal in a commercial flight.
As per the TIA Security Office (TIASO) of Nepal Police, the three individuals who were deported on the chartered flight had reportedly entered the US illegally via Mexico.
Authorities at the airport's immigration office received the returnees and are processing their cases. Once formalities are completed, they will be handed over to the Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau of the Nepal Police, according to airport officials.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Narendra Kunwar at the AHTB confirmed that the trio used the ‘donkey route’ to enter the US illegally and that they will be handed to the AHTB after they meet their relatives.
“Once they reach Nepal, we treat them as fellow Nepalis and let them meet their relatives as a form of confirmation of their identities,” he said, “After that, we will initiate an investigation into how they entered the US.”
Previously, a group of nine Nepali nationals were deported by the US on March 5. AHTB investigation had revealed that all of them were detained from the southern US border during the Joe Biden administration.
The deportees had disclosed that they paid between Rs 4 million to Rs 7 million to ‘agents’ to arrange the journey to the US border. However, not a single one of them revealed the name of the agents.
