Charles Maines

sanctions waiver say it provides the Kremlin with a windfall for its war in Ukraine in a moment when the Russian economy had otherwise been struggling.

Charles Baines, NPR News, Moscow.

In a statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces would abide by the ceasefire from 4 p.m.

Saturday through end of Easter Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously called for an Easter truce and agreed to Putin's offer, saying it was a chance for Russia to choose real progress towards peace and avoid a return to hostilities.

Yet the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later characterized the ceasefire as a temporary humanitarian gesture,

Peskov made clear in Moscow's view any lasting settlement depended on Ukraine making further territorial concessions, a demand Kiev has rejected, not least without ironclad security guarantees from the U.S.

Charles Baines, NPR News, Moscow.

All my male colleagues had already gone.

The older people in the office said, are you an idiot?

What are you still doing here?

You're of military draft age.

Get out now before mobilization begins.

This was the scene last May.

I was on Red Square watching goose-stepping soldiers, missiles, and tanks as they marched and rumbled over the dark cobblestones.

All of it for a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

And yet what I kept hearing about was another victory, one that hadn't happened yet, over fascism in Ukraine.

Our grandparents did everything to defeat the Nazi threat and will do the same now that it's raised its head again, said Yevgeny Viltin, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian army.

Yulia Belikova said her son was proudly serving on the front while she worked with military families at home.

We know what we're doing and why, she told me.