U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hopes on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine would reach a ceasefire agreement this week.
Trump shared this message on his own social media platform, Truth Social, adding that following such an agreement, the two countries would start big business with a prosperous America and accumulate great wealth.
While Trump’s Easter message was short, consisting of just two sentences, it garnered attention for specifying a concrete timeframe of “this week” for potential agreement.
This statement was posted approximately 40 minutes before the end of the unilateral Easter temporary ceasefire declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Previously, as U.S.-mediated ceasefire and peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine had been making little progress, Trump had issued a warning on April 18 that the U.S. might withdraw from mediation if progress wasn’t made.
In response, Putin declared a temporary Easter ceasefire from 6 p.m. Moscow time on April 19 until Monday midnight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had proposed extending the ceasefire period beyond Easter. However, the Kremlin announced that Putin had not ordered an extension of the ceasefire, which would end tonight.
