Overview
- Set to run from Saturday at 4 p.m. Moscow time through the end of Sunday, the truce orders Russian forces to halt operations as Ukraine says it will reciprocate and is willing to extend the pause.
- Hours before the start, officials reported deadly Russian drone strikes that killed at least one person in Poltava and two in Odesa and wounded residents in Sumy, casting doubt on whether the lull will hold.
- The Kremlin said troops must be ready to repel provocations, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said he and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi set rules to answer any violations in kind.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow did not coordinate the move with Kyiv or Washington and denied it signals revived talks, even as Ukraine frames the pause as a possible opening toward peace.
- Holiday ceasefires have repeatedly unraveled in this war, and with roughly one-fifth of Ukraine under Russian control and wider diplomacy stalled by focus on the Middle East, expectations for a lasting halt remain low.