Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a truce "based on humanitarian reasons" to mark Easter in east Ukraine from Saturday evening until midnight on Sunday.
The announcement came as as Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds of captured soldiers in the largest exchange since Moscow's full-scale invasion started over three years ago.
"Today from 1800 to midnight Sunday, the Russian side announces an Easter truce," Mr Putin said in televised comments, while meeting Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov.
"I order for this period to stop all military action," he said.
"We are going on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow our example, while our troops must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions," Mr Putin said.
"Ukraine's actions during the ceasefire will show its readiness for a peaceful settlement."
The two sides exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war on Saturday through a UAE-mediated process.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that 246 Russian service members were returned from territory controlled by Kyiv, and that “as a gesture of goodwill” 31 wounded Ukrainian POWs were transferred in exchange for 15 wounded Russian soldiers in need of urgent medical care.
Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelenskyy said that 277 Ukrainian soldiers had returned home from Russian captivity.
Both sides thanked the United Arab Emirates for their mediation.
Wam, the UAE news agency, confirmed the prisoner swap and release in a social media post late on Saturday evening.
The UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its appreciation to both Russia and Ukraine and said that the success of this round of mediation, the fourteenth, reflects the strong ties between all three parties.
Mr Putin said in his televised remarks that Russia was ready for negotiations and welcomed the US, China and other states keen on reaching a "fair settlement" in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington will “take a pass” on talks to end the Ukraine war if there is no progress within days from the warring sides.
For several months, the US President has been pressing for a truce, but has failed to make any progress and concessions from the Kremlin despite an ice-breaking call with his Russian counterpart and repeated negotiations with Moscow.
“If, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say: 'You're foolish. You're fools. You're horrible people' and we're going to just take a pass,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“But, hopefully we won't have to do that.”
Mr Trump promised to end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office in January but has little to show for his efforts so far.
Russia said on Friday that some progress had been made in talks about ending the war in Ukraine but that contacts were complicated with Washington. “Contacts are quite complicated, because, naturally, the topic is not an easy one,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
