Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of violating ceasefire
Charges of truce-breaking flew from both Kyiv and Moscow over Orthodox Easter, with each side alleging thousands of violations as the war stretched into its fifth year.
Charges of truce-breaking flew from both Kyiv and Moscow over Orthodox Easter, with each side alleging thousands of violations as the war stretched into its fifth year.
The two countries had agreed to a ceasefire for the religious holiday. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the pause on Thursday, more than a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky first proposed suspending hostilities.
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“As of 7:00 a.m. (5am Irish time) on 12 April, 2,299 ceasefire violations were recorded. Specifically: 28 enemy assault actions, 479 enemy shellings, 747 strikes by attack drones… and 1,045 strikes by FPV drones,” the Ukrainian military’s general staff said in a post on Facebook.
“There were no missile strikes, guided aerial bomb strikes, or Shahed-type UAV strikes,” it added.
“A total of 1,971 ceasefire violations by units of the Ukrainian armed forces were recorded between 4:00 pm Moscow time on April 12 and 8:00 am on April 12,” the ministry said, as reported by the TASS news agency.
According to the Russian ministry, Kyiv fired 258 times using artillery or tanks, carried out 1,329 FPV drone strikes, and dropped “various types of munitions” on 375 occasions, particularly by drone.
Moscow also said the Ukrainian military had mounted “three nighttime attacks” on Russian positions and made “four attempts to advance” along the front, adding that all of them had been repelled.
The Kremlin said the truce was scheduled to remain in force for 32 hours, beginning at 4pm (2pm Irish time) yesterday and ending at midnight tonight.
Last year, a similar Easter ceasefire was declared in Ukraine, but it quickly unravelled as both sides traded accusations of repeated violations.
In recent months, several rounds of US-brokered talks have failed to move the two sides closer to a deal to end the fighting, which was triggered by Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
That diplomatic effort has slowed further since the start of the war in the Middle East, as Washington’s focus has shifted toward Iran.