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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 04-19-2025 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
President Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce on Saturday and just 40 minutes before his declared deadline Kyiv was hit by yet another kamikaze drone attack.
Yet more game playing by Russia’s President Putin with the announcement of an Easter truce – followed by yet another drone attack on Kyiv. No doubt he is trying to outmaneuver Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of Trump – make him appear unreasonable and give Trump the pretext he needs to then to pull all US support for Ukraine.
It’s worth highlighting here that there have been more than 28 “ceasefires” since Russian troops first crossed Ukraine’s borders back in 2014 and Russia never abided by any of them including most recently during the battle for Bakhmut.
In total, 4,552 soldiers and civilians have returned from Russian captivity since the start of the full-scale war.
On the eve of Easter, April 19, Ukraine and Russia conducted a major prisoner exchange, with 277 Ukrainian defenders released from Russian captivity.
President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram:
Russian forces will halt all hostilities from 6:00 p.m. on April 19 until midnight on April 21, Putin announces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that his troops will observe a 30-hour ceasefire from the evening of April 19 to April 20, 2025.
The announcement was made on Saturday afternoon, April 19, by the Kremlin press service.
From deadly missile strikes to diplomatic shifts — here’s your complete summary of the week in Ukraine, as of April 19, 2025.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has denied claims that it is nearly ready to accept a US-brokered peace deal, saying it does not make political decisions or assess diplomatic progress “in percentages.”
[Updated at 17:17]: Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has pushed back against claims that it is ‘90% ready’ to sign off on a US-backed peace plan aimed at halting Russia’s full-scale invasion.
In a statement to Sky News, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it “does not make political decisions” and therefore could not have provided any “assessments of percentage.”
Although the US is still the leader in military aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the EU is top in terms of total financial, military, and humanitarian assistance.
Europe has overtaken the US in total aid to Ukraine encompassing financial, military, and humanitarian assistance, according to director of the Research Center International Finance at the Kiel Institute Christoph Trebesch.
Trebesch made the comment during an online discussion titled “Ukraine’s public finances in the third year of war,” organized by Ukraine’s Centre of Economic Strategy.
Now only one other village, Gornal, remains under Ukrainian control, the Russian defence ministry claims.
Russia on Saturday said it had retaken the penultimate village still under Ukrainian control in its Kursk frontier region, where Kyiv’s forces launched a surprise offensive in August.
The Ukrainian campaign took Russian troops by surprise and resulted in Kyiv seizing more than 1,000 square kilometres (400 square miles) of territory.
With its abundance of resources and know-how, Ukraine must invest in its businesses and infrastructure even while the war continues. Otherwise it will be left behind.
In a war zone, waiting feels like the safest option. Wait for peace, then rebuild. Wait for a ceasefire if it comes from Donald Trump’s engagement with Russia, then invest. Wait for the smoke to clear, then think about the future. But Ukraine doesn’t have that luxury of waiting for uncertainly over a ceasefire to become certainty – and neither does the world.
Right now, when ceasefire is just an abstract concept, Ukraine must do something that feels counterintuitive but is essential: it must invest in its economy. Not tomorrow. Not when the last missile lands. Now.
Ukrainian troops destroyed a Russian armored train in a rare drone strike. An aerial reconnaissance officer described the train itself as a “greeting from World War II.”
Ukrainian forces struck with kamikaze drones a Russian armored train involved in an attempted assault, according to the 152nd Separate Chasseurs Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
The brigade shared a video of the strike on Facebook on Saturday, April 19, captioned: “We haven’t shot down a locomotive yet. But everything happens for the first time. The crew of the Asmodeus.”
The Trump administration is pursuing a strategy straight out of an extortionist’s manual. But it’s a protection racket without any commitment to protect.
The United States has sunk to a new low in its treatment of Ukraine, a nation bleeding to defend not just itself but the very principles the West claims to cherish. Reports from Bloomberg expose the administration’s latest maneuver: a begrudging retreat from its absurd demand that Ukraine repay $300 billion in aid through a predatory minerals deal, now pegging the figure at a still inflated $100 billion.
This isn’t magnanimity – it’s the White House colliding with reality after months of peddling lies to justify its extortionate diplomacy. The irony cuts like a blade: as Russia pummels Dnipro with missiles, the US refuses to sell Ukraine a $50 billion Patriot air defense system, leaving civilians to die under a sky Washington could help protect. This is not statecraft; it’s a moral abdication, a betrayal draped in the rhetoric of “deals.”
US news outlets, citing sources familiar with the matter, report that acknowledging Moscow’s control over this region was part of a draft framework proposed by US diplomats.
U.S. officials are open to recognizing the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula as Russian territory as part of a wider peace deal in Ukraine, according to reports.
American news outlets, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that acknowledging Moscow’s control over the region on the Black Sea – which was seized by force in 2014 – was part of a draft framework proposed by U.S. diplomats.
A source close to the Ukrainian government expressed concern that Trump’s threatened withdrawal from negotiations could lead to a suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.
There are apparently no serious discussions taking place in the White House or Congress about further military support for Ukraine, as the previous aid packages approved during Joe Biden’s presidency near their expiration.
The New York Times (NYT) reports, citing Ukraine supporters in the US Congress, that even though the current military and financial support package is running out, neither the White House nor those on Capitol Hill are seriously engaging in talks about future aid packages.
Russia’s strikes on Ukraine during Palm Sunday and Passover do not suggest that this supposedly Christian aggressor country wants peace.
On Sunday, April 13, millions of Christians around the world gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday. Seen as one of the most important holidays in the Christian faith, this feast day “commemorates the triumphant arrival of [Jesus] Christ in Jerusalem,” where he was greeted by people with palm branches. To date, the palm branch is recognized as a symbol of peace, and the tradition has been reenacted on Palm Sunday for generations.
Meanwhile, on that same day, millions of Jews celebrated the beginning of Passover, a holiday that celebrates the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Like Palm Sunday for Christians, Passover is one of the most important holidays in Judaism.
Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
Explosions and fires broke out in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia following Russian air and drone strikes, but according to preliminary information, there were no casualties.
Russia launched a combined air attack on the Odesa region on the evening of April 18, targeting civilian infrastructure and causing fires.
According to the State Emergency Service (DSNS) in the Odesa region, Russian shelling destroyed farms.
As per Ukrainian intelligence, Russian forces use drones to release so-called RG-Vo grenades, which are hand grenades containing a poisonous substance.
Russia is increasingly using drones to drop highly toxic chemicals on the battlefield, a practice that is a war crime, Ukraine’s intelligence agency (HUR) has said.
In a Telegram post, HUR wrote that Russian forces use drones to release so-called RG-Vo grenades, which are hand grenades containing a poisonous substance.
An increased contribution of a mere 0.21% of the EU’s annual GDP would be sufficient to compensate for a loss in aid to Ukraine from the US, a German think tank estimates.
The European Union could compensate for the loss in US aid to Ukraine, should Washington pull its support, by only needing to increase its contribution by approximately 0.21% of its annual GDP.
This would see it increase from €44 billion to €82 billion ($50 billion to $93.3 billion).
Ukrainian Economy Deputy Minister said that the sides are trying to resolve technical issues, narrowing them down to the most sensitive ones that require a political decision.
A new round of negotiations on the minerals deal will start in the United States on April 24, 2025. Currently, the parties are working on technical issues and wording with regard to the operation of the future investment fund.
The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Economy Deputy Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka on television, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
Frustrated Trump, unable to get Moscow to agree to a peace settlement with Ukraine, threatens to give up and walk away.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Washington could quit talks to end the Ukraine war within days unless there is rapid progress from Moscow and Kyiv.
The warning confirmed a sudden change of US messaging, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier saying in Paris that the United States would “move on” if peace was not “doable.”
