Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin and Zelensky agree to Easter ceasefire while Moscow loses 1,100 troops in a daynewsline24

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the spring and summer months would be difficult ​for Ukraine as it would face pressure on the battlefield and also diplomatically to end the war.

Zelensky said Ukraine’s partners had asked Kyiv to reduce its strikes on Russia’s oil sector as global prices surged due to the Iran war and escalating tensions in the ⁠Middle East. He did not name the partners.

But he said that if Russia wanted to de-escalate, it should halt its own strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and agree to resume trilateral peace talks, mediated by Washington.

He acknowledged, however, that the US was currently reluctant to dedicate much more time to the peace process in Ukraine.

“This spring–summer period will ⁠be quite difficult politically and diplomatically. There may be pressure ​on Ukraine,” ⁠Zelensky told reporters in remarks released by his office this morning.

“There will also be pressure on the battlefield.”

“I believe it will be very difficult for us until September.”

Ukrainian military personnel shot down Iranian-designed Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war, president Volodymyr Zelensky said, describing the operations as part of a broader effort to help partners counter the same weapons used by Russia in Ukraine.

Zelensky made his first public acknowledgment of the operations Wednesday in remarks to reporters that were embargoed until this morning.

Zelensky said Ukrainian forces took part in active operations abroad using domestically produced, battle-tested interceptor drones.

Reporting from Izyum, in eastern Ukraine, Kiley’s report detailed the scandal of millions avoiding military call-ups – with hundreds of thousands of soldiers also absent without leave.

Many sympathised with those avoiding service, particularly men with families, describing it as understandable to fear a “one-way ticket” to the front. Some readers reflected on the psychological toll of the conflict, highlighting exhaustion among soldiers and the fear of being sent to the most dangerous areas with little chance of return – points also noted by Kiley on the ground.

Others were more critical, insisting citizens should defend their country and questioning what draft evasion says about duty, sacrifice, and national survival.

Russian losses have increased by more than 1,100 in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian military said this morning in a daily update.

“The total combat losses of Russian forces from February 24, 2022, to April 10 2026 in the war against Ukraine amount to approximately 1,308,670 personnel, including 1,130 over the past day,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a post.

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has announced a 32-hour ceasefire over a two-day period for Orthodox Easter and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv ⁠would abide by the measure.

The ceasefire for Orthodox Easter celebrations on Sunday coincides with a pause in US-led efforts to clinch a settlement to the four-year-old conflict amid hostilities in Iran and the broader Middle East.

Putin’s announcement was similar to a 30-hour ceasefire he ordered last year. Each side accused the other of violating ⁠it.

The Kremlin said the Easter ceasefire would be in ​effect from ⁠Saturday at 4pm (1300 GMT) to midnight (2100 GMT) on Sunday evening. “We proceed on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation,” the ⁠Kremlin announcement said.

The announcement said defence minister Andrei Belousov had issued an order to Russia’s top ​commander, Chief ⁠of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, “to stop ‌for this period military action in all directions”.

“Troops are to be ready to eliminate all possible provocations by the enemy as well as any aggressive actions.”

Zelensky said Ukraine had repeatedly proposed ‌a halt to fighting for Orthodox Easter.

“Ukraine has repeatedly stated that ‌we are ready for reciprocal steps. We proposed a ceasefire during the Easter holiday this year and will act accordingly,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

“People need an Easter without threats and a real move towards peace, and Russia has a chance not ⁠to return to attacks even after Easter,” he said.

Russia’s Supreme Court has effectively criminalised the activities of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning rights group Memorial, the latest step in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent and civil society organisations.

The ruling against the human-rights group followed a closed hearing on a petition from the justice ministry to designate what it called “the Memorial international civic movement” as extremist and ban its activities in Russia.

Memorial said there was no such entity but that the ruling still “would allow the authorities to crack down on any Memorial projects, their participants and supporters”.

One of the oldest and the most renowned Russian human rights organisations, it was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

Just a day after Donald Trump floated the idea of turning the Strait of Hormuz into a “joint” tollbooth to enrich the US and Iran, the British government revealed that a joint operation with Norway had been undertaken to protect Nato’s northern flank.

The move, combined with a visit this week by Keir Starmer to the Arabian Gulf, is the latest sign that even Europe’s Anglo-Saxons are pulling away from Washington. The UK and its allies are determined to defend the alliances and principles of international law that the US president and his deputy are keen to destroy.

John Healey, the defence secretary, revealed that a British frigate and spy planes had been involved in monitoring two Russian spy submarines and an attack sub as they surveyed undersea cables and pipelines in the High North, the strategically vital region encompassing the Arctic Circle and the North Atlantic.

The European ​Commission has urged the Hungarian government to explain what it said ⁠were “extremely concerning” reports about possible leaks of information to Russia.

EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen ⁠will raise ​the issue ⁠at the leader’s level as well, a commission spokesperson ⁠told reporters in Brussels.

“The alleged ​revelations… ⁠highlight the alarming possibility ‌of a member states’ government coordinating with Russia, thus actively ‌working against the security ‌and the interests of the EU and all its citizens,” she ⁠said.

“This is extremely concerning, and it is for the government in question to explain itself as a matter of urgency.”

A series of leaked conversations ‌have seemed to show ​how Hungarian prime minister Viktor ‌Orban’s government ⁠and his foreign minister Peter Szijjarto ⁠have worked to undermine ​EU efforts ‌to aid Ukraine.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil terminals and facilities in the recent weeks have started making an impact on its position to negotiate with Russians, a senior official in Kyiv said.

“At the next negotiations with them (Russians), I think we will hear a great deal that is new. In any case, this significantly strengthens our position and does not, so to speak, weaken it,” said Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office.

Ukraine and ⁠Russia exchanged the bodies of deceased soldiers, ⁠officials ​said yesterday.

Kyiv received ⁠1,000 bodies that Russia ⁠says belong to ​the Ukrainian ⁠military, the ‌Ukrainian centre handling prisoner of war swaps ‌said on the ‌Telegram app.

Ukraine handed over 41 ⁠dead Russians, Russia’s RBC news outlet cited lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev as saying.

The two sides have periodically ‌exchanged their ​war dead ‌in the course ⁠of the conflict.