"Putin’s ’Easter Truce’ undermines Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine - Economist
The "Easter truce" in Ukraine promised by Russia has failed to live up to expectations and undermines hopes for a peace deal sought by US President Donald Trump.
This is reported by The Economist, Censor.NET informs.
As noted, in March, US officials announced that they had reached an agreement on a ceasefire in the Black Sea. However, Moscow said it would abide by the agreement only after sanctions were partially lifted, and Kyiv demanded the withdrawal of Russian warships from the western part of the sea.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian ports have not been attacked since then, although attacks on cities near them continue. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the 30-hour Easter truce announced by Putin on April 19 has been violated dozens of times. Although the air strikes have somewhat decreased, there is no talk of a full-fledged ceasefire.
The publication also mentions previous agreements, such as the 2022 grain deal, which allowed Ukraine to partially resume exports through the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdenne. After Russia broke the agreement in 2023, Ukraine opened a new trade corridor and pushed the Russian fleet out of the western Black Sea.
Currently, according to former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Vaskov, Ukrainian ports are operating at about 60% of capacity. During the harvest, these figures may rise to last year's 90%.
The publication also mentions Ochakiv, where in 2017 the United States began building a hub for the Ukrainian Navy, and in 2021 the United Kingdom promised to help with the creation of the base. Putin explicitly stated that this facility allows NATO to threaten Russia. Since then, the city has been under regular attack.
The Economist summarized that Russia is not interested in a lasting cessation of hostilities. Instead, Putin seeks to create an atmosphere of constant instability - and this calls into question any U.S. efforts to promote a peace plan.
Putin's announcement of an "Easter truce"
As a reminder, on April 19, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin allegedly announced an Easter truce that would be in effect from 6 p.m. Moscow time on April 19 until zero o'clock on April 21.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's announcement of the so-called Easter truce by saying that it was another of Putin's attempts to play with people's lives.
Later, President Zelenskyy said that if Russia is now ready to really join the format of complete and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act in a mirror image - silence in response to silence, strikes in defense of strikes.
On April 20, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin dictator had not ordered the truce to be extended.
