It was unexpected, poorly implemented and not even prolonged. But the short -lived and hopeless Kremlin Easter truce was directly aimed at US President Donald Trump and the transfer of blame for his disastrous pacification efforts in the Ukraine War.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a 30-hour surprise ceasefire on Saturday, there was already skepticism in Ukraine and not only that something more than a cynical public relations maneuver was in the midst of growing criticism that Moscow had become an obstacle to peace.
But it also revealed that Putin could suspend the conflict at any time, feeding the hope that the brief lowering of weapons could be overtaken and become the beginning of something more substantial, perhaps even creating space for a serious peace process to be rooted.
Instead, the Easter truce simply expired at midnight on Sunday, just when Kremlin always said he would expire. Ukraine appealed to Russia to keep the ceasefire longer. But as much as we know, there were not even talks to prolong it. For Moscow, it seems that this would never be the beginning of the end of the war.
From the moment the weapons were silent – or should have silent – at 6:00 pm on Saturday, Moscow’s time, there were reports of large -scale violations on both sides. The Ukrainian army accused the Russian forces of launched 2,935 attacks along the vast front line, including 1,882 bombing and 96 terrestrial attacks.
But it is the shouts of Russian indignation that Kremlin is betting that Trump will hear loud and sound.
Russian officials claimed about 5,000 Ukrainian violations, reiterating that a longer ceasefire, such as the 30 days proposed by Trump and already agreed by Kiev but rejected by Moscow, is not feasible.
“Ukraine, not observing the Easter truce proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has shown that it is not able to cease fire for 30 hours,” said Russian’s Ministry of Foreign Ministry ambassador to Kiev’s regime crimes, on Sunday-controlled television on Sunday.
For Kremlin, this was a gesture of goodwill, in the form of a Russian ceasefire, which exposed the Ukrainian leadership and its European supporters as the true obstacle to an agreement with Trump.
The White House has repeatedly echoed Kremlin’s views in the past and it may be correct to think that it can do it again.
In Moscow, there has been a growing malaise with what might happen if an unpredictable Trump really abandon his pacification efforts in Ukraine, as he threatened to do if there is no progress soon.
Putin’s biggest concern is that Trump blames Russia, reinforces US support to Kiev and imposes on new and hard economic sanctions on Moscow, ending the potential benefits of a reconfiguration of US-Russian relations.
The United States remains “committed to getting a total and comprehensive ceasefire,” said a state department spokesman on Sunday after Kiev accused Moscow of repeatedly violating the truce.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that Washington, DC could end his efforts to end the Ukrainian conflict within “days” if there were no signs of progress.
Convincing Trump that Ukraine, not Russia, is responsible for any final failure of its peace process is, therefore, an important goal of Kremlin and was probably one of the main reasons why Easter’s truce was declared.
Before he ended Sunday night, with Kremlin explaining that Putin gave no order to prolong the ceasefire, there were signs that Trump was still committed – for now.
“We hope Russia and Ukraine will come to agreement this week. They will both start doing big business with the United States of America, which are thriving, and to make a fortune,” Trump has published on the Truth Social Highly Cup Network while returning from a golf course that he owns Washington, DC.
Words were optimistic and Trump, for now, seems strangely optimistic that there may still be a deal, despite the failed hopes of the weekend of an advance in the Ukraine War.
