Meeting with Chief of the General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov

During the meeting, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief heard a report by Chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces – First Deputy Minister of Defence Valery Gerasimov on the situation along the line of contact and announced that Russia will stop all combat action from 6 pm of April 19 until 12 am, April 21.

Chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces – First Deputy Minister of Defence Valery Gerasimov: Supreme Commander-in-Chief,

The combined forces have remained proactive in their effort to achieve the special military operation’s objectives. All six army groups are currently on the offensive along 11 theatres of action.

Army group North has been on the offensive to liberate districts in the Kursk Region which were invaded by the Ukrainian armed forces. Most of the invaded territory has been liberated. As of today, the liberated area is 1,260 square kilometres, which amounts to 99.5 percent of the invaded territory. There are two sections left where combat action carries on: one is near Oleshnya, the other is Gornal. They are located near the Ukrainian border.

Yesterday, the 106^th Assault Division’s 51^st and 137^th Airborne Infantry Regiments liberated Oleshnya. A mop-up operation is currently underway in the wooded areas to the south of this community. These sections are relatively small and cover a total area of up to three square kilometres. The mop-up operation at the Gornal Male Monastery near Gornal is nearing its end.

The assault crews from the 810^th Naval Infantry Brigade have been fighting to defeat the enemy’s units in Gornal and its adjacent forests covering a total area of 4.5 square kilometres. This is a relatively small area, but the enemy has concentrated its main assets there for holding on to this territory and has been making active use of drones and cluster munitions. However, the Russian troops and counter-battery assets have been overpowering the enemy artillery and countering the enemy’s drone attacks.

Having failed in the Kursk Region’s border districts, the enemy tried penetrating the Belgorod Region near Demidovka and Popovka, which are close to the Kursk Region. But we prevented a massive enemy force from penetrating the Russian territory. There are no enemy troops near Demidovka today and we have completed a mop-up operation there. There are isolated small crews of up to 12 people in the woods to the south of Popovka. They have been blocked and are about to be destroyed. Our military has sealed off these territories. The distance separating them from the border is about three kilometres.

The effort to completely liberate these wooded areas and Gornal carries on. This ends my report.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Gerasimov, thank you for your report.

The situation along the line of contact is clear, it is progressing favourably for us and the Russian forces are steadily advancing their positions. Please report separately on the border area, the Kursk and the Belgorod regions as soon as combat action to clean up these territories is completed.

Today is the eve of Easter and I would like to congratulate on this bright holiday, first and foremost, servicemen who are Orthodox Christians and who have been fighting for Russia. I would like to wish a happy Easter to everyone in our country and around the world who celebrates, observes and respects this holiday.

Guided by humanitarian motives, the Russian side announces an Easter ceasefire from 6 pm today to 12 am Monday. I hereby order all military operations ceased for this period. We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible ceasefire violations and provocations by the enemy, as well as any aggressive acts on their part.

We are well aware of the fact the Kiev regime, as you reported to me, violated agreements on refraining from targeting energy infrastructure facilities more than a hundred times. Therefore, I ask you to be extremely attentive and focused to be ready to strike back in full.

Our decision on the Easter truce will demonstrate whether the Kiev regime is sincere, ready, willing and able to comply with the agreements, to participate in peace negotiations aimed at addressing the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis. For our part, we have always been ready to move in this direction and strongly welcome the aspirations of the United States, President [of the United States] Trump, our Chinese friends, the President of the People's Republic of China, the BRICS countries and all supporters of a just and peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

Mr Gerasimov, I would like to ask you, once again, to convey my best greetings and gratitude to our soldiers for their service to the Fatherland, their commitment and heroism.

Valery Gerasimov: Affirmative.

Vladimir Putin: You and I agreed on this earlier: our troops, group commanders needed to receive my final instructions to proceed with the execution of what we agreed upon. They now have them.

Valery Gerasimov: Affirmative.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Kaynak: (BYZHA) Beyaz Haber Ajansı

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