Putin attends Orthodox Easter service after declaring ceasefire in Ukraine

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia鈥檚 President Vladimir Putin (L) and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin attend an Orthodox Easter service at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow early on April 20, 2025. (AFP)
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  • The traditionally sung service starts late on a Saturday and lasts into the early hours of Sunday
  • Zelensky says Russian army 鈥榯rying to create impression鈥� of Easter ceasefire

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin joined other worshippers for an Easter service led by the head of Russia鈥檚 Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a faithful backer of the Russian leader and an advocate for the war in Ukraine.
Hours after declaring a unilateral Easter ceasefire that Kyiv said was just words as fighting continued, Putin and Sobyanin stood in Moscow鈥檚 main church, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, while Kirill led a procession, video of the service showed.
Holding a lit thin red candle and donning a dark suit, white shirt and a red tie as in years past, the Russian leader crossed himself several times when Kirill announced 鈥淐hrist is risen.鈥�
The traditionally sung service starts late on a Saturday and lasts into the early hours of Sunday.
For Putin, the Orthodox faith is central to his world view and he always attends services during major church holidays. For Orthodox Russians, Easter is the most important religious holiday.
At the service, Krill called for 鈥渓asting and just peace can be established in the vast expanses of historical Rus,鈥� RIA state news agency reported, in what was a reference to a medieval territory that encompassed parts of what is now Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. 鈥淗ow wonderfully it was said, do not do evil to another and do not treat others as you would not want them to treat you,鈥� TASS agency cited Kirill as saying.
鈥淚f people adhered to this holiday commandment, then life would be completely different: family and social life and 鈥� let me say this 鈥� inter-governmental.鈥�
Kirill has strongly backed the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Thousands have been killed, the vast majority of them Ukrainians, and millions driven from their homes since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Zelensky says Russian army 鈥榯rying to create impression鈥� of Easter ceasefire

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the Russian army is making a pretense of an Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, continuing overnight attempts to inflict front-line losses on Ukraine.
鈥淚n general, as of Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places it does not abandon individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,鈥� Zelensky said in a post on social media.

Early on Sunday, Ukrainian forces reported 59 instances of shelling and five assault attempts along the front line, he said.
鈥淩ussia must fully comply with the conditions of silence,鈥� Zelensky said.
He reiterated that Kyiv was willing to extend the ceasefire for 30 days but said that if Russia kept fighting on Sunday, so would Ukraine.
鈥淯kraine will continue to act in a mirror manner,鈥� he said.