Vladimir Putin strolled into an Easter Sunday service attended by Elon Musk’s father in Moscow last night, after violating a Kremlin-declared ceasefire.
The Russian president casually walked into the midnight cathedral service, apparently wearing heavy makeup, and looking weary and tired.
Putin’s annual appearance at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral near the Kremlin, to mark Orthodox Easter, came soon after he called a 32-hour ceasefire in the war – which his own troops violated.
The Easter ceasefire was broken by Russia after it attacked Ukrainian positions with drones on Saturday.
Ukraine’s military command reported nearly 470 Russian violations of the truce.
In a festive message at the Sunday service, Putin said: ‘The great holiday of Easter fills the hearts of millions of people with sincere joy, faith in the all-conquering power of life, in the triumph of love, goodness, and justice, and unites us around centuries-old paternal traditions, undeniable spiritual, moral values, and ideals.’
As his troops broke his declared ceasefire, he praised ‘our heroes – the participants and veterans of the special military operation’.
The service was also attended by Elon Musk’s father Errol, 79, who is a regular visitor to Russia.
Errol Musk has previously praised Putin and even blamed his son for falling out with President Donald Trump.
He is in Russia on a two week trip focusing on ‘research projects with Russian scientists’, according to Moscow Times.
President Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4pm on Saturday until the end of Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to abide by the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.
Russia quickly violated their own ceasefire after attacking Ukrainian positions with drones on Saturday evening, as Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for Ukraine’s 148th Separate Artillery Brigade, said: ‘The ceasefire is not being observed by the Russian side.’
Mr Kolesnychenko said that while artillery fire had paused in the sector where his brigade was working, at the junction of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian forces continued to use drones to strike Ukrainian positions.
Ukrainian forces were responding with ‘silence to silence and fire to fire’, Mr Kolesnychenko said.
Ukraine’s military command said on Facebook: ‘After 4:00 pm, 469 ceasefire violations were recorded, namely: 22 enemy assault actions, 153 shelling attacks, 19 strikes by attack drones… and 275 strikes by FPV drones.
‘Today in total, the enemy carried out 57 air strikes and dropped 182 guided aerial bombs. In addition, it deployed 3,928 kamikaze drones and conducted 2,454 shelling attacks on populated areas and positions of our troops’.
The latest flare-up comes despite Moscow and Kyiv both signalling that the end of the war in Ukraine may be in sight.
Russia’s hardline foreign minister issued a surprise statement that ‘the prospect of a political and diplomatic settlement is on the horizon.’
At the same time, Ukraine’s top negotiator Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, 40, made clear Russia is shifting its stance. ‘They all understand the war needs to end. That’s why they are negotiating,’ he told Bloomberg. ‘I don’t think it will be long.’
