Russian forces are creating the impression of a ceasefire, despite Vladimir Putin announcing the so-called “Easter truce.”
Hours after Putin claimed to have given his order, air-raid sirens sounded once again across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
On Sunday Russian forces continued with “shelling” and “assaults” using drones also on Easter morning.
Putin said in a televised address to the nation on Saturday, “Today from 1800 (1500 GMT Saturday) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce.”
In the six hours to midnight on Saturday there was “387 instances of shelling and 19 assaults by Russian forces,” including drones “used by Russians 290 times.”
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On Sunday Ukraine reported that there were more than 2,000 violations of Putin’s so-called ceasefire, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said this has now soared to 2,935.
President Zelensky wrote on Telegram, “The nature of Ukrainian actions will continue to be mirrored: we will respond to silence with silence, our strikes will be to protect against Russian strikes.”
He added that should Moscow break their truce that he will order “defensive strikes in response to attacks.”
Reuters reported that Washington is aiming to secure “a full and comprehensive ceasefire” in Ukraine.
The US State Department said in a statement that was emailed to Reuters, “We have seen President Putin’s announcement of a temporary ceasefire due to Easter. We remain committed to achieving a full and comprehensive ceasefire.
“As we assess their seriousness in this instance, we would welcome it extending beyond Sunday.”
Last Friday, the US most senior diplomat Marco Rubio has warned that Washington is prepared to “move one” if a peace deal does not progress “within days” as the Ukraine-Russia war is “not our war.”
The US Secretary of State said that they are ready to be engaged with peace talks “as long as it takes, but not indefinitely, not without progress,” the Kyiv Post reports.
Rubio told reporters at Le Bourget airport, France that the Paris talks was “constructive, very helpful” and signalled there will be another meeting next week.
Rubio told reporters, “We’ll have some more definitive answers about how close we are to actually making progress, but this isn’t going to go on forever.
“The Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it’s not our war.”
He warned that the US President Donald Trump is ready to walk away, unless there is a peace deal “within days.”
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