Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared an Easter truce in Ukraine, the Kremlin press service said Saturday, over three years after Moscow launched a full-scale offensive of the neighboring country.

The unilateral break in fighting is scheduled to last from Saturday evening until midnight on Sunday local time.

"During a meeting in the Kremlin, the commander-in-chief heard a report by Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, on the situation on the line of contact and said that the Russian side stops all hostilities from 1800 [1500 GMT] on April 19 to 0000 on April 21," the Kremlin's official Telegram channel said.

US President Donald Trump has said that Washington could abandon efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict if Moscow and Kiev don’t engage in negotiations. He added, however, the US still hopes to see the fighting come to an end.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump was asked to comment on remarks by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had suggested that the White House could walk away from efforts to broker a settlement.

“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,”Trump said, adding “We’re going to just take a pass, but hopefully we won’t have to do that.”

Earlier on Friday, the secretary of state told journalists that the White House is still waiting to see if a peace deal is “doable.” 

The Australia Institute is one of the country’s most influential public policy think tanks. Based in Canberra, we conduct high impact research that combines rigorous fact-driven material with cutting-edge communication strategies.

With your help, we're countering the spin of multinational gas companies. 

We’ve produced a TV ad, based on our research, that takes aim at the gas industry’s exploitation of us and our economy. Now we need to get it on as many screens as possible in the lead up to the election, where gas royalties and taxation will be front and centre. And before the Environment Minister makes a decision to approve or reject the damaging North West Shelf gas project.

The US has presented its allies with details of its peace plan to bring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to an end, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing European officials familiar with the matter.

The proposal, outlined during a meeting in Paris on Thursday, reportedly includes easing sanctions on Russia, as well as terminating Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. The roadmap would effectively freeze the conflict and leave former Ukrainian territories that are part of Russia under Moscow’s control, the sources suggested.

One of the officials told Bloomberg that the proposal still had to be discussed with Kiev, adding that the plan would not actually amount to a definitive conflict settlement. Kiev’s European backers would not recognize the territories as Russian, the source suggested.

Trump’s actions were neither ‘spur of the moment’, nor whimsical. The ‘tariff solution’ had been pre-prepared by his team over years.

The Trump ‘shock’ – his ‘de-centring’ of America from serving as pivot to the post-war ‘order’ via the dollar – has triggered a deep cleavage between those who gained huge benefit from the status quo, on the one hand; and on the other, the MAGA faction who have come to regard the status quo as inimical – even an existential threat – to U.S. interests. The sides have descended into bitter, accusatory polarisation.

“Chaos.” “A disaster.” “Uncertainty.” “Very negative.”

That’s a sample of the reactions to Trump’s first few months published in the latest Dallas Fed Energy Survey, which gives executives from nearly 200 oil companies headquartered in Texas the chance to speak anonymously about burning issues inside the oil industry.

Bernie Sanders has been repeatedly uttering the phrase “Israel has a right to defend itself” on his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, which in the year 2025 can only be interpreted as blatant genocide apologia. 

Caitlin Johnstone: ‘Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself’ Is Just a Slogan for Genocide

Tens of thousands of people in Germany are expected to join around 120 peace protests across the country this weekend as Germany's peace movement prepares for its traditional Easter peace marches — even as the presumptive next German government under likely-Chancellor Friedrich Merz is getting ready to spend billions on rearming the country and is seeking to boost the number of Bundeswehr recruits from the current 83,000 to 203,000 by 2031 with a voluntary program.

FOLLOWING THE FAILED PEACE TALKS OF ISTANBUL BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE — DUE TO WESTERN INTERVENTION (BORIS JOHNSON IN KIEV) DEMANDING THAT THE WAR CONTINUED UNTIL THE KIEV REGIME “WON” (WEAKENED RUSSIA POSSIBLY TO THE POINT OF SURRENDER), THE WEST HELPED UKRAINE TO FIGHT ON AGAINST THE RUSSIANS. 

SO FAR, ONE CAN ESTIMATE AT 18 APRIL 2025, THE WAR HAS BEEN LOST FOR THE WEST. UKRAINE HAS LOST MORE THAN ONE MILLION SOLDIERS WITH AROUND TWO MILLION INJURED, WHILE RUSSIA HAS LOST AROUND 100,000 SOLDIERS WITH 200,000 INJURED. 

DONALD TRUMP WANTS THE DEATHS TO STOP, NOT SO MUCH TO ACHIEVE PEACE, BUT TO PREVENT AN OUTRIGHT RUSSIAN VICTORY — WHICH IS ON THE CARD BY MID EUROPEAN SUMMER.

Achieving NET ZERO is a complex issue…

GUS LEONISKY HAS BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF EXPLAINING GLOBAL WARMING SINCE 1979. ON THIS SITE, WE STARTED 20 YEARS AGO WE EXPLAINED HOW today's CLIMATE CHANGE, A RESULTANT OF GLOBAL WARMING, PRESENTS MANY CHALLENGES AND DOUBTS THAT WE HAVE TO OVERCOME. 

UNFORTUNATELY, MANY HONEST ALTERNATIVE AND MAINSTREAM COMMENTATORS WILL ERRONEOUSLY LUMP OTHER CONSPIRACIES AND GLOBAL WARMING IN THE SAME BASKET. 

KNOWING THE EXACT FUTURE OF GLOBAL WARMING IS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT WE NEED TO PLACE TRUST IN THE SCIENCES OF IT, EVEN IF THEY ARE FLUCTUATING WITHIN BRACKETS OF TRENDS. THE TRENDS — AND POSSIBLE TURNING POINTS — ARE INDICATING A MAJOR CATASTROPHIC CHANGE IN THE CLIMATIC BALANCE ON THIS LITTLE LUCKY PLANET. 

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has accused the US of abandoning the democratic world, saying Washington’s sudden pivot toward closer ties with Russia has undermined the trust of its allies and shaken the global order.

In remarks delivered on Tuesday, Bayrou said the US, once seen as the linchpin of the Organization of Free Nations and a guarantor of international law, had abandoned core Western values. He added it was “shocking” that a country long seen as a pillar of the global order “could suddenly side with the aggressor.” 

Moscow and Washington have been engaged in negotiations since US President Donald Trump took office in January. The two countries have held several rounds of high-level talks focused on a possible peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict and also on restoring bilateral relations.

With 48% of voters paying little or no attention to the campaign, according to an Essential poll, Senator Kim Carr, a former Labor minister, takes a look at how the two major parties have performed in what he describes as an uninspiring campaign.

Kim Carr

With Easter and Anzac Day approaching, what has so far been an uninspiring election campaign will grind to a halt as the country takes a holiday break.

Peter Dutton’s budget reply Speech is full of distortions and many of the key polices are flawed or we cannot be sure they will work as intended. The Labor Party might be criticised as too cautious, but the Coalition is clearly not ready for government.

Michael Keating

March 29, 2025

On Tuesday, the Treasurer in his budget speech detailed Labor’s policies and provided costings for them going forward. Except for the income tax cuts, there were no real surprises. Almost all Labor’s policies had been already announced prior to the Budget.

Hollywood star Mel Gibson, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, has urged the US government to reveal the “truth” about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Australian-born actor shared a clip from journalist Tucker Carlson’s interview with former Congressman Curt Weldon, which was published on Monday. The tragedy that took place nearly 25 years ago “might be the biggest scandal in American history,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.

The actor has described the 2001 attacks as “the biggest scandal in American history”

The Trump ascendancy has forced international economic issues and the future strategic outlook onto the Australian election agenda, even if they are at the margins.

This campaign — while dominated by domestic issues, notably the cost of living — is taking place against the background of an extraordinarily volatile external situation, with major implications for Australia’s future.

Michelle Grattan