Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of ceasefire violations
Ukraine and Russia have each accused one another of hundreds of violations of a short ceasefire coinciding with Orthdox Easter celebrations.
The Ukrainian military said yesterday that Russian forces had committed 2,299 violations since the truce began on Saturday.
The Russian defence ministry, in turn, said Ukrainian forces had committed 1,971 violations, including three attempted counter-attacks in Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said his nation’s forces would respond ‘symmetrically’ to Russian attacks during the ceasefire, calling Easter ‘a time of peace.’
He added that he hoped the truce could be extended beyond Easter to facilitate peace negotiations which have all but stalled with the outbreak of war in the Middle East – but Russia rejected the idea, saying its attacks would resume on today.
Russian troops mounted 28 attacks and carried out nearly 2,000 drone strikes, Ukraine’s military said, but did not use bombs or missiles.
In Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, which borders Russia, local authorities said a Russian drone hit an ambulance overnight, injuring three medics.
Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had launched three overnight attacks on positions in the Pokrovsk area and Otradne in Dnipropetrovsk region.
It also said four attempts by Ukrainian troops to advance in Sumy and Donetsk were “thwarted.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally announced the Easter ceasefire, having previously resisted repeated calls from Ukraine for a temporary cessation of fighting.
Earlier in the year, Putin acquiesced to a US request to halt strikes on energy infrastructure as Ukraine braced for bitterly cold temperatures.
Both Ukrainian and Russian sources accused each other of limited violations in the first few hours of the truce on Saturday, before making the much larger claims.
Ukrainian and Russian authorities also announced they had each swapped 175 prisoners of war on Saturday, including seven civilians a piece. –Reuters
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