FALSE: Zelenskyi rejected Putin’s proposal for an “Easter truce” — Western media

Information is being spread online that allegeldy President Zelenskyi rejected Putin’s proposal for an “Easter truce”. It is claimed that Bloomberg and The Washington Post reported this.

This is false. Western media did not write about Ukraine rejecting an “Easter truce”; these phrases were taken out of context. It was Russia that violated the ceasefire.

Bloomberg did not write on its website’s news feed or social media that President Zelenskyi rejected Putin’s proposal for an “Easter truce”.

It is likely that propagandists distorted the wording Bloomberg used in several articles — “Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the announcement”. However, this phrase was used in a different context. The outlet did not state that President Zelenskyi rejected a proposal to cease fire for Easter. Bloomberg indicated that he refuted Putin’s statement that Russia had stopped shelling during the “Easter truce”:

“I order all combat operations to cease for that period. We proceed from the premise that the Ukrainian side will follow our example,” Putin said. “At the same time, our forces must be ready to repel any violation of the ceasefire and any provocations from the adversary.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the announcement. “As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives — at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine,” with attack drones detected in the skies, he said on X.”

Later, Bloomberg published an article that reprinted Zelenskyi’s statements that Putin violated the truce he himself had announced. The agency added that Russia refused Ukraine’s proposal to extend the truce by 30 days and to cease long-range drone and missile strikes on civilian infrastructure during that time.

The Washington Post wrote that Zelenskyi likely responded skeptically to Putin’s ceasefire proposal for Easter. “Zelensky appeared initially to dismiss Putin’s Saturday suggestion, calling it an ‘attempt to play with people’s lives’”, the article says. However, the outlet also did not accuse Ukraine of violating the truce. On the contrary, citing statements by the Ukrainian president, they wrote about Russia’s violations of the ceasefire. The Washington Post also noted that Zelenskyi proposed extending the truce for another 30 days.

Therefore, these media outlets did not report that Ukraine rejected the “Easter truce”. Zelenskyi agreed to a ceasefire but emphasized that if Russia violated it, Ukraine would respond “symmetrically”.

It was Russia that disrupted the Easter ceasefire. According to a report by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Syrskyi, Russian forces violated the ceasefire 2,935 times. In total, during the so-called truce, 96 Russian assault operations and 1,882 shellings of Ukrainian positions took place, including 812 with heavy weapons. Ukrainian actions were a “mirror” response to Russia’s actions. On the evening of Easter, Russia declared that Putin had not given an order to extend the “Easter truce”, and on the morning of April 21, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that it would continue the so-called “special military operation”. Immediately, the shelling of civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian cities resumed.

Moreover, the United States had already proposed a full and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine. Ukraine received the initiative positively, while Russia ignored it.