Russia, Ukraine Trade Blame For Countless Violation Of One-Day Easter Ceasefire

Amidst the Easter ceasefire, Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of violations, with Ukraine reporting 3,000 Russian breaches and Russia citing 1,000 Ukrainian ones.

The ceasefire, ordered by Russian President Putin, is not being extended despite calls from Ukraine and the US.

Source : PTI/X

Russia and Ukraine are trading blame on each other for violating the one-day Easter ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

While Ukrainian forces reported nearly 3,000 violations of Russia's own ceasefire vow, the Russian defence ministry blamed Kyiv for breaking the truce more than 1,000 times, reported Reuters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early Monday that Kyiv forces were instructed to mirror the Russian army's actions. 

Ukraine Blames Russia 

Zelenskyy claimed that the largest number of Russian shelling and assault operations took place during the frontline part near the embattled eastern town of Pokrovsk. 

Kyiv did not sound any air raid alerts on Sunday but soon after midnight on Monday, the Ukrainian forces issued alerts for east and southeast regions of the country, warning of missiles and drone attacks. 

Zelenskyy said that the absence of air raid alerts suggested a "format of ceasefire that has been achieved". He also proposed that Russia abandon drone and missile attacks on civilian targets for at least 30 days. 

If Russia does not agree, it will testify that it intends to continue doing only those things that destroy human lives and prolong the war, he added. 

In a separate video message for Easter, the Ukrainian President urged the citizens not to give up hope that peace will one day return. 

Russia Accuses Ukraine For Civilian Deaths 

Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine of violating the ceasefire over 1,000 times damaging infrastructure and killing civilians. 

According to the ministry, Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times and said it had counted over 900 drone attacks by Ukraine, 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.

Ceasefire Extension 

The US had welcomed the step to announce the ceasefire and said it would welcome an extension of the truce. Zelenskyy also reiterated several times Ukraine's willingness to pause strikes for 30 days in the war. However, the Kremlin said there was no order to extend the pause in frontline fighting.

Putin, who on Saturday ordered the halt in all military activity along the front line until midnight Moscow time did not give orders to extend it. "There were no other commands," Russia's TASS state news agency cited Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying when asked whether the ceasefire could be prolonged.