Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a very brief, Easter ceasefire in the Russo-Ukraine war, according to an announcement on Saturday. The ceasefire is supposed to last from 6 p.m. (presumably Moscow time) Saturday until midnight Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary Easter ceasefire in his country’s war with Ukraine, the Kremlin said Saturday.

The war has raged for more than three years and cost the lives of tens of thousands of people on both sides. 

“Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 to 00:00 from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce,’” Putin said in a video posted by the Russian ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is skeptical and released a statement on Saturday in reply to the Russian announcement.

“As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives—at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on X while giving an update on troop positions. It wasn’t entirely clear of (sic) he was addressing the truce.

“At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun working to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life.”

As of this writing, it’s not known if the Russian drones were withdrawn or if any other Russian action has been undertaken.

Here’s what’s interesting about the timing of this:

The temporary ceasefire comes after on Thursday said an 80-page minerals deal will be signed with Ukraine in one week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later amended that it would likely be signed on April 26.

This agreement, if it’s signed as expected, would put in place an economic agreement between the United States and Ukraine that may well affect how Russia looks at this whole affair, but probably not until and if any actual American assets are in place in Ukraine.

In fact, the very real risk is that Tsar Vladimir I would seek to bring the whole thing to a military conclusion before that could happen.