Behind Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategic move of announcing a brief Easter ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin sprung a surprise on Saturday when he announced a surprise one-day ceasefire in Ukraine. Putin announced his troops would cease "all hostilities" between 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday and midnight on Monday, stating that he assumed Ukrainians would follow suit.
While Putin's stance came unexpectedly, the Ukrainian side wasn't thrilled. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cast doubts over the Easter truce, stating that "Russian attack drones were detected in our skies" Saturday evening. "Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life," Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Saturday. Giving details of an alleged missile attack in Kharkiv, Zelenskyy said: "One must be an outright scumbag and despise life to carry out such missile strikes on an ordinary city on Good Friday, the eve of Easter."
Interestingly, the Russian declaration comes after US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to wash their hands off the peace talks, making it imperative for Putin to show that he was serious about peace.
While geopolitical experts believe Putin's statement was an overture to Trump, others feel it was a tactic used by the Russian leader to peddle his theory that Ukraine didn't want the war to end. He also wanted to prove wrong the charges that Russia was intentionally dragging the talks and that the Kremlin's strategy was to use ceasefire negotiations as a tool to accelerate victory till it reached a situation where victory became a part of the final agreement.
Some believe while this can be overtly interpreted as a sign that both sides can stop the fighting if wanted, this could also be a ruse to show that the other side cannot be trusted, citing the violations. As for the violations, there are aplenty as Ukraine claims it is still being attacked.
Putin's statement that Russia should "remain vigilant to potential violations and provocations by the enemy" as it was aware that Kyiv had "already violated the agreement to refrain from strikes on energy infrastructure over 100 times" hints that the Kremlin has every intention to hold Ukraine responsible for any misadventure.
Even if the ceasefire comes into play, it will be a logistical nightmare for Ukrainians as some frontline positions may be in the middle of fierce clashes, according to CNN. Halting the fighting among the chaos and misinformation-triggered confusion is going to be a complex task for Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has cleared its stance on the ceasefire, stating that Kyiv "will look at actions, not words". He added that Russia could agree at any time to the proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which has been on the table since March.
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