Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Easter truce

KYIV, Ukraine: Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of violating an Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces were continuing their shelling and assaults along the front line despite Putin announcing the surprise truce.

The 30-hour truce starting Saturday evening to mark the religious holiday would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.

But Zelensky accused Russia of having maintained its attacks on the front line after the truce started.

Russia’s defence ministry in turn said it had “repelled” attempted assaults by Ukraine and accused Kyiv of launching drones and shells, causing civilian casualties.

Zelensky said Sunday, citing Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky, that “an increase in Russian shelling and the use of kamikaze drones has been observed since 10:00 am (0700 GMT)”.

Earlier he said that the first six hours of the ceasefire saw “387 instances of shelling and 19 assaults by Russian forces,” with drones “used by Russians 290 times”. Ukraine’s air force on Sunday morning had not reported any drone or missile attacks, however.

AFP journalists heard explosions on Sunday morning around a dozen kilometres (seven miles) from the front line in east Ukraine.

Ukraine will respond “symmetrically” to any attacks, Zelensky said, accusing Russia of “attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire” while continuing isolated attacks.

Russia’s defence ministry said that “despite the announcement of the Easter truce, Ukrainian units at night made attempts to attack” its positions in the Donetsk region, “which were repelled”.

Overnight, it said, Ukraine “444 times shelled... the positions of our troops and carried out 900 strikes with drones”.

These attacks left civilians “dead and wounded,” the ministry said, without giving details.

It insisted its troops had “strictly observed the ceasefire and stayed at the front lines and positions they previously occupied”.Putin’s order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US President Donald Trump to get Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire.

On Friday, Washington even threatened to withdraw from talks if no progress was made.

Putin announced the truce from 1800 (1500 GMT) Saturday to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday) in televised comments, saying it was motivated by “humanitarian reasons”.