This year's Easter dawned in Ukraine on 1.152 installments. On February 24, 2022, Russia launched the "Special Operation of Denazification and Demilitarization of Ukraine", i.e. Russian troops invaded Ukraine without an official declaration of war with the aim of establishing a regime loyal to Moscow. When that plan failed, they switched to the occupation of as much Ukrainian territory as possible and its annexation to Russia.
In the spirit of the Easter holidays, Ukraine and Moscow again exchanged prisoners of war on Holy Saturday, this time more than 500 of them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram that 277 Ukrainian soldiers have returned from Russian captivity, and that a total of 4.552 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been returned since the beginning of the war.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Kiev handed over 246 soldiers who are now in Belarus waiting to return home.
Russia Ukraine WarRussian prisoners of war in the Kursk region / Photo: Ukrainian Security Service Press Office via AP
Both sides thanked the United Arab Emirates for its help in organizing the exchange.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an Easter truce on Saturday, but Zelkensky soon accused him of lying, because Russian armed drones are allegedly in the air even while Putin is speaking messages of peace, and that this exposes "his true attitude towards Easter and towards human life".
Zelensky: "Russia is violating the truce"
"Russia is violating the Easter truce it declared, and the shelling continues," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, referring to the report of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Sirsky, on the situation on the front from six o'clock on Sunday, April 20.
"There have already been 59 Russian shellings and five assault actions by Russian units on different directions of the front line. In addition, there have been Russian artillery strikes and the use of drones in the Kursk region," Zelensky said, and that "the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but not to give up individual attempts to advance and inflict losses. Russia must fully respect the terms of the ceasefire. Ukraine's proposal to implement a 24-hour ceasefire and extend it 30 days remains in force today."
"Putin's easy diplomatic victory"
The announcement of the "Easter truce" worked for Vladimir Putin, allowing him to achieve an easy diplomatic victory without risking anything, writes The Wall Street Journal.
He announced the Easter ceasefire in Ukraine a day after the Donald Trump administration threatened to abandon peace efforts in Ukraine unless progress is made soon.
Russia Ukraine Talks ExplainerWill there be peace in Ukraine: Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin / Photo: AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pavel Bednyakov
"The short-lived ceasefire proposal was an easy diplomatic victory for Putin, an attempt to prevent the US from giving up on this conflict and a way to position himself as a leader who wants peace above all else," he said. Journal.
Tatyana Stanovaya, a senior research fellow at the Carnegie Eurasian Center in Paris, says that declaring a ceasefire for such a short period of time "doesn't create any risks for Putin, but it works for him" because he creates an image of himself as a person who sincerely wants peace.
"Moscow can immediately end the war if it wants to. Russia has a reputation as an aggressor, so first we need to see a real cessation of aggression and clear actions to ensure a permanent ceasefire," said European Commission spokeswoman Anita Gipper.
