U.S. President Donald Trump has said he hopes Russia and Ukraine will be able to ink a ceasefire deal to stop more than three years of war by the end of the week, after a temporary Easter truce was marred by accusations of attacks from both sides.
Why It Matters
The Republican president, who pledged to end the war in Ukraine in just 24 hours, has struggled to fulfil his commitment to stopping Europe’s largest land conflict since World War II.
While pursuing a thawing of glacial relations with the Kremlin—monitored with alarm by many of America’s allies—Trump has sidestepped piling fierce criticism on Russia while appearing to leverage Kyiv to the negotiating table by briefly cutting off military aid and U.S. intelligence.
But Trump has increasingly expressed frustration with Moscow after Russian officials refused to ink a U.S.-brokered, 30-day full ceasefire agreement last month, which Ukraine has already signed. Despite three visits to Russia by Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the Kremlin only agreed to a partial ceasefire covering the Black Sea once some sanctions are lifted, which has not yet come into force.
A chaplain conducts an Easter service for Ukrainian soldiers to mark Easter on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, April 20, 2025.
A chaplain conducts an Easter service for Ukrainian soldiers to mark Easter on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, April 20, 2025.
Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine’s 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP
What To Know
Trump said in a post to his Truth Social platform on Saturday he hoped Russia and Ukraine would reach a deal “this week.” He did not elaborate on what prompted his sudden optimism, two days after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was evaluating in the coming days whether a ceasefire agreement could be reached in the next few weeks.
“If it can, we’re prepared to do whatever we can to facilitate that and make sure that it happens, that it ends in a durable and just way,” Rubio said on Friday as he departed high-level talks with Ukrainian and European officials.
“If it’s not possible—if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen—then I think the president’s probably at a point where he’s going to say, ‘Well, we’re done,'” he added.
Following Rubio’s remarks, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared an Easter truce lasting 30 hours between 6 p.m. Moscow time (11 a.m. ET) on Saturday and midnight into Monday morning. It would cover “all military operations,” the Kremlin leader said.
Kyiv said it would observe the truce, although looked at the announcement with skepticism. The Ukrainian government-backed Center for Strategic Communication said on Sunday the unilateral truce was “merely a PR operation aimed at Western audiences, with zero substance.”
Reports from Ukraine on Sunday indicated a quietening of the front lines, but officials still reported Russian assaults and drone attacks and said Kyiv would match Moscow’s actions. The Kremlin in turn accused Ukraine of breaching the ceasefire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday Russia had violated the ceasefire nearly 3,000 times, with many of the attacks registered around the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops were “strictly observing” the conditions of the ceasefire, accusing Kyiv of 4,900 violations of the truce.
The Russian government said it had resumed military operations after the ceasefire expired.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had attacked the southern Kherson region with an Onyx anti-ship cruise missile launched from Crimea from 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Saturday) and targeted the southern Mykolaiv region with anti-radar missiles. Ukraine intercepted 42 Iranian-designed attack drones out of 96 directed across the country, the air force said.
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and said in fall 2022 it was annexing the four mainland Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. This is not internationally recognized.
Trump officials have increasingly signaled a peace agreement could involve continued Russian control of chunks of Ukraine, although Moscow does not fully control all of these regions.
Russia has laid out extensive conditions for its consent to a ceasefire in Ukraine, many of which have been flatly ruled out by Kyiv, including the dismantling of its military, no path toward NATO membership and recognition of Russia’s grip on seized territory.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday it welcomed U.S. statements “made at various levels” taking future NATO membership for Ukraine off the table. “This is something that brings us satisfaction and aligns with our stance,” Peskov said in remarks reported by state media.
Ukraine says membership to NATO, or another form of security guarantee, is the only way to make sure Russia does not restart its invasion of its neighbor.
Trump on Saturday suggested Moscow and Kyiv would “start to do big business with the United States of America” after a ceasefire deal comes into force.
Witkoff hinted during an appearance on Fox News earlier this month that discussions with Kremlin officials had looked at “very compelling commercial opportunities” between the U.S. and Russia.
Ukraine on Thursday announced it had signed a “memorandum of intent” with the U.S. on a mineral deal pushed by Trump, the first step toward an agreement derailed by Zelensky’s disastrous White House visit back in February.
What People Are Saying
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday: “We’re not going to continue to fly all over the world and do meeting after meeting after meeting if no progress is being made.”
President Donald Trump said in later remarks in the White House: “If, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘You’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday Ukraine had “significantly reduced” operations along the front line on Sunday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday: “Actions always speak louder than words.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether a ceasefire deal for Ukraine is within reach in the coming days after months of spluttering negotiations.