‘Easter truce’ ordered by Putin on Saturday but Ukraine president says Russian army continuing efforts to advance

Several blasts ripped through Russian-controlled Donetsk in eastern Ukraine this morning, the Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported.

A source in the local “operative services” told the news agency that the Ukrainian armed forces had "delivered a strike” in the Budennovsky district of the city.

According to sources cited by Bloomberg, the US may be willing to give Putin a strategic victory and to accept Russian control over the peninsula. In 2014, Russian special forces seized Crimea, which Putin annexed after a sham referendum.

US diplomatic recognition would violate the UN charter and the post-1945 consensus that countries cannot seize territory by force. Most states, including the UK, have refused to recognise Russia’s illegal takeover.