Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight into Saturday, local authorities reported. Two others were wounded in the attacks, which hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, private homes, and a kindergarten. The strikes came just hours before a proposed 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire was set to begin.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 160 drones across Ukraine during the night, with 133 shot down or intercepted. The aerial assault preceded a ceasefire declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin, intended to halt hostilities from 4pm on Saturday until the end of Sunday for the Orthodox Easter weekend. Russia’s Defence Ministry separately claimed that 99 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over Russia and occupied Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged on Saturday that his forces would abide by the ceasefire, calling it an opportunity to advance peace initiatives. “Easter should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace,” he wrote online. However, he warned that any violations would be met with a swift military response: “Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.”
Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Putin’s move as a “humanitarian” gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands. Ukraine had earlier proposed a pause in attacks on energy infrastructure over the holiday.
In a separate development, a prisoner swap on Saturday brought home 175 Ukrainian soldiers and seven civilians, Zelensky confirmed. “Most had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,” he wrote. At the exchange site in northern Ukraine, Svitlana Pohosyan, waiting for her son’s return, said: “I want to believe it. God willing, may it be so. My celebration will come when my son returns.”
Seven residents of Russia’s Kursk region also returned from Ukraine on Saturday, Russian state media reported, after being captured by the Ukrainian army. They were greeted at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova. The returnees were the last of those taken from Kursk after Ukraine’s surprise incursion in August 2024, one of its biggest battlefield successes.
