April 10, 2026

Data Cutoff: 1:30 PM ET

Grace Mappes, Jessica Sobieski, Diana Nasreddine, Kateryna Shymkiv, Anna Thacker, Nikolai Sundstrom, and Frederick W. Kagan

The Kremlin unilaterally declared a short-term, theater-wide ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter holiday. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on April 10 ordering Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov to cease combat operations “in all directions” as part of a declared ceasefire from 1600 Moscow time on April 11, 2026, until the end of the day on April 12, 2026, for Orthodox Easter. Putin’s decree states that Russia “assume[s]” that Ukraine will “follow [Russia’s] example.” Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded “no” on April 9 to a question about whether the Kremlin had discussed the proposed truce with the United States or Ukraine, or whether the truce meant that negotiations would resume.

Zelensky stated on April 10 in response to Putin’s decree that Ukraine had proposed a ceasefire during the Easter holidays and “will act accordingly.” Zelensky also stated that Russia could choose to extend the ceasefire. Peskov acknowledged that the Kremlin has seen Zelensky’s acceptance of the ceasefire.

Russian forces are prioritizing offensive operations in the Hulyaipole direction over defending against Ukrainian counterattacks in the Oleksandrivka direction but are not making significant advances west of Hulyaipole despite this prioritization. Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets reported on April 10 that the Russian military command appears to be prioritizing conducting offensive operations in the area of operations of the Russian 5th Combined Arms Army (CAA, Eastern Military District [EMD]), which comprises the area west of Hulyaipole, over stabilizing the situation in the areas of operations (AORs) of the 29th and 36th CAAs (both EMD), which include the Oleksandrivka direction. Mashovets reported that the Russian military command has assessed that the Ukrainian counterattacks in the Oleksandrivka direction, which threaten the operational rear of the 5th CAA attempting to advance west of Hulyaipole toward Orikhiv, do not pose a sufficient threat for the Russian military command to reprioritize the defensive effort to the east over the offensive effort to the west. Russian forces have made only limited advances near Hulyaipole in recent days despite this reported prioritization; rather, ISW has observed multiple instances of Ukrainian forces continuing to advance in this area in recent days. Mashovets noted that the Russian military command directed more reinforcements to the AOR of the 5th CAA, including elements of the 40th Naval Infantry Brigade (Pacific Fleet), 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (68th Army Corps [AC], EMD), and 38th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (35th CAA, EMD), while the command only redeployed elements of the 120th Naval Infantry Division (Baltic Fleet) and 69th Separate Covering Brigade (35th CAA) to the AORs of the 36th and 29th CAAs. Mashovets noted that elements of the 120th Naval Infantry Regiment lead counterattacks toward Oleksandrohrad and Sichneve (both east of Oleksandrivka) and defensive efforts near Voskresnka (east of Sichneve) and Sichneve, but that this effort has not yielded gains for Russian forces, as Ukrainian forces continue counterattacking in the Pryluly-Varvarivka-Oleksandrivka area (north to northwest of Hulyaipole).

• The Kremlin unilaterally declared a short-term, theater-wide ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter holiday.

• Russian forces are prioritizing offensive operations in the Hulyaipole direction over defending against Ukrainian counterattacks in the Oleksandrivka direction but are not making significant advances west of Hulyaipole despite this prioritization.

• Russian forces are reportedly pulling from their strategic reserves to reinforce their efforts in Ukraine, but do not appear to be using these reserves to reinforce their identified priority effort in Donetsk Oblast.

• The Kremlin continues to intensify the throttling of Telegram.

• Ukrainian forces advanced in the Kupyansk, Slovyansk, Pokrovsk, and Hulyaipole directions.

• Russian forces launched 128 long-range strike drones against Ukraine.

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