As Putin Declares 30-Hour Easter Truce, Ukrainian Forces Document Thousands of Violations While Zelensky Proposes 30-Day Moratorium on Long-Range Strikes Against Civilian Infrastructure
Summary of the Day – April 20, 2025
The fragile Easter truce announced by Vladimir Putin shattered under the weight of reality as Ukrainian officials documented nearly 3,000 Russian ceasefire violations within the first 24 hours. While artillery thundered across multiple directions of the front, President Volodymyr Zelensky seized on Moscow’s restraint from long-range missile strikes to propose a 30-day moratorium on strikes against civilian infrastructure. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Russia had no plans to extend the temporary truce beyond its expiration, while U.S. President Donald Trump suggested economic incentives for both nations to reach a peace deal quickly. On this holy day for Orthodox Christians, the stark contrast between Putin’s pious declarations and Russia’s actions on the battlefield highlighted the necessity for any future ceasefire to include robust monitoring mechanisms and clearly defined terms.
A chaplain of the 115th brigade gives a blessing to military personnel during Easter celebrations in Lyman, Ukraine. Ukrainian servicemen celebrate Easter on the Lyman front with cakes, painted eggs and other ritual food. (Jose Colon / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Truce In Name Only: Ukrainian Forces Document Systematic Russian Violations
By April 20, Ukrainian authorities had documented nearly 3,000 violations—96 Russian assaults on Ukrainian positions, 1,882 instances of shelling, and 950 deployments of Russian first-person-view (FPV) drones.
“In fact, on all the main directions of the front, Russia has not kept its own promise,” Zelensky said, citing a briefing from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. The heaviest fighting continued in the Pokrovsk and Siversk directions in Donetsk Oblast.
The Ukrainian General Staff’s April 20 situation report documented multiple ceasefire violations, including attacks near Toretsk, east of Toretsk near Druzhba, and southwest of Toretsk near Sukha Balka. Russian forces also reportedly attacked in unspecified areas of Kursk Oblast after the start of Russia’s Easter truce.
The Bloody Silence: Civilian Casualties Continue Despite Announced Truce
In Kherson Oblast, at least one person was killed and four others injured in Russian FPV drone attacks on April 20, according to Ukrainian officials. Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration, confirmed that Russian forces continued shelling and launching airstrikes against Ukrainian settlements throughout the day.
In Kharkiv Oblast, regional administration head Oleh Synehubov reported three guided glide bomb strikes against Kupyansk on the morning of April 20, further violating the Easter truce.
The most stark example came when volunteer Yevhen Tkachov attempted to evacuate civilians from the Donetsk Oblast village of Zoria. “I turned on the emergency lights, got out of the car, and started waving my arms to show that I was a civilian,” Tkachov recounted. “Despite that, the drone struck just half a meter from my car.” A second drone wounded one civilian with shrapnel before a third drone destroyed their vehicle entirely.
The Path Forward: Zelensky Proposes 30-Day Strike Moratorium
Noting Russia’s restraint from long-range strikes against Ukrainian cities during Easter, Zelensky proposed a temporary ceasefire on long-range strikes against civilian infrastructure for a minimum of 30 days.
“Ukraine proposes to abandon any strikes with long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days with the possibility of extension,” Zelensky said via Telegram. “If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it only wants to continue doing things that destroy people’s lives and continue the war.”
“So, this is the format of silence that has been achieved and which is easiest to continue,” Zelensky observed, referring to the pause in aerial bombardments during Easter celebrations.
The Kremlin’s Cold Calculation: No Plans to Extend Truce
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin has given no orders to extend the Easter ceasefire beyond its stated expiration point at midnight on April 21. When asked about the possibility of an extension, Peskov simply stated, “There were no other orders.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military units reported that Russian forces were using the relative lull to regroup and strengthen their positions. A Ukrainian brigade operating in the Lyman direction stated that Russian forces were using the ceasefire to transfer infantry to frontline positions and attempt to clear crossings across the Zherebets River.
The Business of War and Peace: Trump’s Economic Incentives
U.S. President Donald Trump took to social media with a different approach to ending the conflict. “Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on April 20. “Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a fortune.”
The statement came shortly after Trump had threatened to pull U.S. support from the peace process altogether if either side caused negotiations to stall. Business interests have played a key role in Trump’s approach since taking office in January, with the White House previously touting the potential for “enormous economic deals” between the U.S. and Russia.
The U.S. State Department also released a statement on April 20 supporting an extension of the truce: “We have seen President Putin’s announcement of a temporary ceasefire due to Easter. We remain committed to achieving a full and comprehensive ceasefire. As we assess their seriousness in this instance, we would welcome it extending beyond Sunday.”
The European Skeptic: Czech Foreign Minister Calls Out “Media Stunt”
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky delivered a scathing assessment of Putin’s Easter gesture on April 20. “It’s like going on a hunger strike between breakfast and lunch and secretly eating candy,” Lipavsky told CNN Prima News. “We see that the attacks are continuing. Ukraine reports that there have been a number of attacks, so the ceasefire declared in this way is more of a media stunt than reality.”
The minister emphasized that a weekend gesture was no substitution for the full 30-day ceasefire that the U.S. has been lobbying for since March. “Putin never agreed to that and started to set other conditions. We should look at what the reality is rather than at the words,” he said.
The Prisoners’ Plight: Wagner Mercenaries Top Russian Exchange Priorities
Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) spokesperson Andrii Yusov revealed on April 20 that mercenaries who fought for Wagner Group in Ukraine are among those at the top of Kremlin requests in prisoner swaps.
“Who do they want to see first? Well, there are various lists. We can mention that since when the Wagner Group was actively operating, they have indeed been working hard on their return,” Yusov said during a national television appearance. “Also, certain representatives from specific regions and services are very eager to get their people back.”
The War Crime Confession: Russian General’s Admission of Perfidy
The Russian Ministry of Defense’s Main Military-Political Directorate Deputy Head and Akhmat Spetsnaz Commander, Major General Apti Alaudinov, described deception tactics that may constitute perfidy under the Geneva Convention.
Alaudinov claimed that Russian forces recently used blue electrical tape identification marks during an operation in Kursk Oblast, knowing that Ukrainian forces also use blue tape for identification. “We were supposed to have blue tape for the first 24 hours of the operation and then change it to red [tape],” Alaudinov told TASS, explaining that the tactic was designed to “prevent the Ukrainian military from understanding what was happening.”
The Geneva Convention defines perfidy as “acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence.”
The Faith Under Fire: Russia’s Systematic Religious Persecution
President Zelensky revealed on April 20 that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Russian forces have killed or tortured 67 Ukrainian priests, pastors, and monks and destroyed 640 religious sites, most of which are Christian places of worship.
This systematic persecution throughout occupied Ukraine has included arbitrary detention and assassinations of Ukrainian clergy and the looting, desecration, and deliberate destruction of places of worship. Russia has particularly targeted the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other religious minorities, including Ukrainian Protestants and Baptists.
The Information Battlefield: Ukraine Condemns Fox News Error
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called out Fox News on April 20 for labeling Kyiv a “Russian city” during its news broadcast on Easter Sunday. During its coverage of Easter services, Fox News aired footage of religious services from around the world, including the service Putin attended in Moscow, while simultaneously broadcasting live images from Easter religious services in Kyiv, misidentifying the Ukrainian capital as a Russian city.
“If this was a mistake rather than a deliberate political statement, there should be an apology and an investigation into who made the mistake,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi wrote on social media.
The Digital Crackdown: Moscow Court Penalizes Google
A Moscow court found Google guilty of disclosing personal data of Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported on April 20. The ruling stemmed from a YouTube video that allegedly revealed both casualty figures and personal details of Russian soldiers.
The court found Google guilty under Russia’s administrative code and fined the company 3.8 million rubles (approximately $45,000). Russia has long pressured foreign tech platforms to remove content it considers illegal, including what it describes as “fakes” about the war in Ukraine.
The War of Narratives: Ukrainian Analysts Refute Russian Territorial Claims
Ukrainian military analysts Kostyantyn Mashovets and Yuriy Butusov responded on April 20 to the Russian Ministry of Defense’s claim that Russian forces seized Shevchenko. They stated that Ukrainian forces maintain positions in Shevchenko south of Pokrovsk and that there are no Russian forces in the settlement.
This refutation comes as both sides accused each other of violating the Easter truce in the Pokrovsk direction. Zelensky stated on the afternoon of April 20 that Russian forces violated the Easter truce and that Russian combat activity was highest in the Pokrovsk direction.
Looking Ahead: The Hollow Promise of Peace
As the Easter truce continued through April 20 with little evidence of genuine Russian commitment to peace, the events of the day underscore the necessity that any future ceasefire or peace agreement be publicly available, formally agreed to in advance by all parties, and include robust monitoring mechanisms.
Zelensky’s proposal for a 30-day moratorium on long-range strikes against civilian infrastructure offers a potential path forward, but the failure of even the limited Easter truce suggests that meaningful progress toward peace remains elusive without significant international pressure on Moscow to engage in good faith negotiations.