Ukraine will abide by an Easter ceasefire, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, hours after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to pause all combat activity until 2100 GMT on Sunday.

"If Russia is now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly mirroring Russia's actions," Zelenskyy said Saturday in a post on X, adding that he proposed "extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20."

The Ukrainian leader also accused Russia of having already broken its promises, saying "Russian assault operations continue on several frontline sectors, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided".

"For humanitarian reasons, the Russian side is declaring an Easter (Sunday) ceasefire today … I order a halt to all military operations for this period," Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said earlier.

The Russian president Vladimir Putin stressed his expectation that the opposing party would participate in this initiative, stating that the ceasefire’s success or failure would demonstrate Ukraine's readiness and capacity to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

"Russian troops must be prepared to repel possible violations of the ceasefire and provocations by the opponent," he said.

The previous 30-day moratorium on military strikes on energy infrastructure showed a clear absence inclination by Kiev towards finding solutions via peaceful negotiations, he said, adding that Ukrainian forces had breached it over 100 times.

Russia retake 99% of Kursk region

On other hand, Russia's military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov on Saturday said troops had retaken over 99 percent of territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region in an incursion launched in August.

"In the areas of the Kursk region where Ukraine armed force mounted an incursion, the main part of the territory... is now liberated. That's 1,260 square kilometres, 99.5 percent," Gerasimov told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.