A temporary 32-hour ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for Orthodox Easter was set to begin on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) and last until the end of Sunday. The Kremlin ordered its Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and army chief Valery Gerasimov to "cease hostilities in all directions during this period." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Kyiv's readiness for a ceasefire over Easter and its willingness to reciprocate. This temporary truce follows a similar agreement held for Orthodox Easter the previous year, though Ukrainians have expressed scepticism about its hold, recalling hundreds of violations during the last year's truce.

However, the ceasefire announcement was preceded by intense drone activity from both sides. Between late Friday and early Saturday, just hours before the truce, Russia launched at least 160 drones against Ukraine, resulting in four deaths in the country's east and south. The southern Odesa region was among the hardest hit, with authorities reporting two fatalities and damage to civilian infrastructure. In a poignant incident in Odesa, a Ukrainian soldier was seen holding a portrait of 2-year-old Ganna Sapun during her funeral on April 9, 2026, three days after she was killed in a Russian drone attack. Additionally, two people were killed and around 15 others wounded overnight Friday in separate attacks in Ukraine's central Poltava region and the northeastern Sumy region. Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russia launched 128 drones against the country overnight Thursday.

Concurrently, Ukraine conducted its own drone strikes. A wave of Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at an oil depot and damaged apartment buildings in Russia's southern Krasnodar region. Russian-installed authorities also reported that two people died in a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Ukrainian servicemen were seen testing an FPV drone in the Zaporizhzhia region on April 10, 2026, amid the ongoing invasion.

The temporary ceasefire emerged amid stalled US-led diplomatic efforts to end the four-year-old conflict, which have been further complicated by the Middle East war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any prior discussions with Ukraine or the United States regarding the ceasefire, emphasizing it was not linked to broader peace negotiations. These negotiations remain deadlocked due to fundamental differences over territory. Moscow demands territorial and political concessions that Kyiv, under President Zelensky, has deemed unacceptable and tantamount to capitulation. Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along current front lines, a suggestion Russia has rejected, insisting on Kyiv relinquishing all territory it controls in the Donetsk region.

The war, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions. After four years, fighting on the front has reached a near standstill, though Russia has made small territorial gains at a high cost. However, Kyiv recently managed to push back in the southeast, and Russian advances have been slowing since late 2025, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Analysts attribute this slowdown to factors such as Russia being banned from using SpaceX's Starlink satellites and Moscow's efforts to block the Telegram messaging app. Despite these developments, the ISW indicates that the situation remains unfavorable for Ukraine in the Donetsk region, particularly towards the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Moscow currently occupies just over 19 percent of Ukraine, with the majority of this territory seized in the initial weeks of the conflict.