The big picture - everything you need to know at the start of a new week By Mark Wyatt, live news reporter Welcome back to another week of our live coverage of the war in Ukraine and efforts to bring an end to the fighting. Here's everything you need to know: Putin's 'Easter truce' Vladimir Putin surprised the world on Saturday when he announced that he was ordering all of Moscow's forces to lay down their weapons for an "Easter truce". The Russian president said his decision was "guided by humanitarian considerations" and that the temporary pause in fighting would last from 6pm local time on Saturday until the stroke of midnight last night (10pm BST). Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would respond to Putin's ceasefire accordingly and meet "silence in response with silence", but added that he would also authorise "defensive strikes in response to attacks" if Moscow were to break its truce. The silence never came, with Ukraine's president reporting Russia quickly went back on its word, claiming there had been "dozens" of strikes on Ukrainian positions on Saturday night and into yesterday morning (see our 7.01am post). The Kremlin hit back with its own accusations, saying it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, while insisting its military groups had "strictly abided" by the ceasefire. Some observers did report an easing of attacks on Ukraine's major cities but hostilities continued elsewhere. Sky's military analyst Sean Bell suggested three reasons Putin proposed the truce - for his domestic image as a peacemaker, in order to move troops out of Kursk after largely reclaiming the Russian territory from Ukrainians, and as a gesture to please Donald Trump. As Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett put it, Russia's ceasefire appeared "more like a diplomatic dance, rather than a military, or moral, manoeuvre". Could US 'walk away'? The US has made no secret of its growing frustration at the lack of progress in peace negotiations and Trump threatened to "take a pass" on attempts to reach an agreement late last week. That came after his secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US might "walk away" from talks after spending two months sitting down with both sides on multiple occasions with little to show for it. Rubio had just finished a round of talks with Ukrainian and European officials in Paris alongside Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. Watch: US ready to walk away from peace efforts, Rubio says Still, Russia's "Easter truce" might have shifted perspectives in Washington somewhat, even if it was not widely observed. It could be played off as the first real concession made by Moscow since Trump initiated peace negotiations two months ago. "It feels like Putin is giving Trump just enough to keep him on side, without actually making any major concession," says Bennett. Prisoner exchange This Easter weekend also saw Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds of prisoners in the war's largest exchange so far. A total of 277 Ukrainians returned from Russian captivity - a figure which includes 31 wounded prisoners of war transferred in exchange for 15 wounded Russian servicemen in need of urgent medical care. Russia's defence ministry said 246 Russian servicemen were returned in total. Minerals deal Looking forward to the week ahead, the US and Ukraine are expected to sign a long-awaited minerals deal. Trump has pushed for a deal that would allow the US to share in the profits of Ukraine's natural resources and critical minerals, something he casts as repayment for military aid provided by Washington to Kyiv since 2022. The deal was expected to be done weeks ago but was derailed by Zelenskyy and Trump's falling out at the White House. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the current deal was "substantially what we'd agreed on previously". That previous agreement was never published, but details were shared by Ukrainian media at the time. It envisaged Ukraine contributing 50% of its future proceeds from state-owned mineral resources, oil and gas to an investment fund, which would be used "to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine". Battlefield latest Moscow's military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov told Vladimir Putin over the weekend that Russian troops had retaken more than 99% of the territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region in an incursion launched in August. These maps show the latest territorial situation, indicating how much ground is held by Russian and Ukrainian forces: And if you missed the latest Q&A session with Professor Michael Clarke talking all things Russia and Ukraine, you can watch it in full here: