Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared an Easter ceasefire, the Kremlin said. During a meeting in the Kremlin, he heard a report by Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, on the situation at the line of contact and said that the Russian side stops all hostilities from 18.00 on April 19 to 00.00 on April 21.

"We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be ready to repel possible truce violations and provocations by the enemy," he said.