Russia and Ukraine blamed each other on Sunday for breaking a one-day Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, with both sides accusing the other of hundreds of attacks and the Kremlin saying there was no order for an extension.
Putin, who sent thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, ordered his forces to stop all military activity along the front line in the three-year-old war until midnight Moscow time on Sunday.
TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying there was no order from Putin to extend the ceasefire. “There were no other commands,” Peskov was quoted as saying when asked if it could be prolonged.
In Washington, the State Department said it would welcome an extension.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow’s actions in coming days “will reveal Russia’s true attitude toward U.S. peace efforts” and a proposed 30-day ceasefire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was pretending to observe the Easter ceasefire, but had carried out hundreds of artillery attacks on Saturday night, with more on Sunday.
Russia launched 67 assaults from midnight until 8 p.m. local time, Zelenskyy wrote on X.
“Either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favorable PR coverage,” Zelenskyy posted.
“However, there were no air raid alerts today. Hence, this is a format of ceasefire that has been achieved and that is the easiest to extend,” he said, proposing that Russia abandon drone and missile strikes on civilian targets for at least 30 days.
If Russia does not agree, it will be proof that it intends to continue doing only those things that destroy human lives and prolong the war, he added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine had broken the ceasefire more than 1,000 times, damaging infrastructure and causing civilian deaths.
The ministry said Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times while it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, including on Crimea and the Russian border areas of the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions.
“As a result, there are deaths and injuries among the civilian population, as well as damage to civilian facilities,” the ministry said.
Ukraine’s military said earlier that activity on the front line had decreased. Some Russian military bloggers also said frontline activity had declined substantially.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify the battlefield reports.
The apparent failure to observe even an Easter ceasefire shows how hard it will be for U.S. President Donald Trump to clinch a lasting peace deal.
The U.S. will walk away from peace efforts unless there are clear signs of progress soon, Trump and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Friday.
TRUMP’S PEACE PUSH
Last month, after Ukraine accepted Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce, Putin said crucial issues of verification had not been sorted out. Both Moscow and Kyiv have agreed to a moratorium on attacks on energy targets and at sea, which each accuses the other of breaking.
Zelenskyy reiterated that Kyiv was willing to extend the ceasefire for 30 days but said that if Russia kept fighting on Sunday, so would Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian army is acting – and will continue to act – in a fully symmetrical manner,” he wrote on X.
Ukrainian soldiers also believe the ceasefire claims to be false as the fighting continues.
“Shelling continued – we can see it in the news – for example, in Kherson. Also, assaults and shelling continued at the front line. There is no indication of a ceasefire,” said Dmytro, 24, from 93rd Kholodnyi Yar separate mechanised brigade.
“My opinion did not change regarding the ceasefire: it was announced only to show to the world as if they are making some steps, concessions for us. But in reality, as we can see at the front line, nothing has changed. I think it is blatant lie as it always was,” said Serhii, 22, a soldier from the same brigade.
Putin told his top general, Valery Gerasimov, to be ready to respond “in full” if Kyiv broke the truce.
Announcing the ceasefire before heading to an Orthodox Easter service, Putin said the truce would show whether or not Ukraine was ready or able to implement peace.
Easter fell on the same day this year for Orthodox and Western churches, and Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians not to give up hope that peace will one day return.
“We know what we are defending. We know what we are fighting for,” he said in a social media video, wearing a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt and standing in front of Saint Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv.
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