Following the Russian president’s announcement of a unilateral ‘Easter ceasefire’, the Russian Defence Ministry says that Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who was next to Putin at the time of the announcement, has issued ‘instructions to all commanders of groups in the special military operation zone to cease fire and conduct combat operations from 6 p.m. Moscow time on April 19 to zero p.m. on April 21.’
‘The ceasefire regime is introduced for humanitarian purposes and will be observed by the Russian United Grouping of Forces (Forces) provided it is mutually observed by the Kiev regime,’ the Russian ministry said in a statement.
The Ukrainian side has not yet reacted to the statements from Moscow.