Ukraine says Russia's truce is an attempt to play with human lives

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral 30-hour Easter ceasefire in Ukraine on Saturday, after Washington said it could abandon peace talks within days unless the Moscow and Kyiv show they are ready to stop the war.

- Agencies

Putin ordered fighting to stop as of 6:00 pm Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday until midnight on Sunday night.

"Based on humanitarian considerations... the Russian side announces an Easter truce, I order a stop to all military activities for this period," Putin told Valery Gerasimov, Chief of Russia's General Staff, at a meeting televised on Saturday.

"We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions," Putin added.

But shortly after the announcement, around an hour before it was due to take effect, air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the proposal as "yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives."

As of 45 minutes before the truce was meant to start, Ukrainian planes were repelling Russian air strikes, Zelensky said in a post on X.

"Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin's true attitude toward Easter and toward human life," he said, referring to Iranian-made attack drones used widely by Russia in the war to attack Ukrainian cities far from the front.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its troops had been instructed about the ceasefire and would adhere to it, provided it was "mutually respected" by Ukraine.