Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of violating Putin's Easter truce; third religious holiday ceasefire failure in three years?
Trending | World | Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of violating the Easter truce, marking the third failed ceasefire during religious holidays since the conflict began in 2022.
Russia and Ukraine on Sunday (Ap 20) accused each other of violating the fragile 30-hour Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin the previous day.
He said, she said?
On one hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces continued to shell positions and launch drone attacks despite the supposed halt in hostilities, calling it a "false ceasefire." He reported 387 instances of shelling and 290 drone strikes in the first six hours alone.
Russia, meanwhile, claimed that it was Kyiv which violated the ceasefire. Moscow's defence ministry, as per AFP, insisted it had adhered to the ceasefire, but that it "repelled" repeated attacks, including drone strikes and artillery fire by Ukrainian forces.
The alleged strikes caused civilian casualties, it said, adding that "despite the announcement of the Easter truce, Ukrainian units at night made attempts to attack" its positions in the Donetsk region.
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Zelensky wants to extend ceasefire
Even as he said that Ukraine would respond "symmetrically" to any Russian attacks, the president of the war-torn nation proposed extending the truce by 30 days.
"30 days could give peace a chance," he said while urging Russia to fully comply.
"Russia must fully comply with the conditions of the ceasefire. Ukraine's proposal to implement and extend the ceasefire for 30 days after midnight tonight remains on the table," Zelensky's said on Sunday.
Putin had announced the truce from Saturday evening until midnight Sunday for "humanitarian reasons" but said Russian forces "must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy".
This attempt marks the third failed truce effort during major religious holidays since the Russia Ukraine war began in 2022. Previously, similar truces were proposed for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023, but were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
