Russia and Ukraine blamed themselves on Sunday for breaking the one -day suspension of Easter weapons announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and each party accused the second of conducting hundreds of attacks.
Putin, who ordered thousands of Russian soldiers to Ukraine in February 2022, told Russian forces to “stop all military activities” along the war front line until midnight in Moscow on Sunday.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia pretends to be observing the suspension of Easter weapons, but in fact continued hundreds of artillery attacks on Saturday evening, with greater attacks on Sunday.
Zelenskyy wrote on social media platform X that Russia began 26 attacks from the north to local times.
“Either Putin has no full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia they are not going to make a real move towards the end of the war and are interested in the sole range of PR,” said Zelenskyy Post.
“General impression of a weapon suspension”
Earlier he said that the Russian army “was trying to create a general impression of suspension of weapons”, while causing losses on the first line of Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia has announced that Ukraine has broken the suspension of weapons over 1000 times, causing damage to infrastructure and causing some civil death.
The ministry announced that the Ukrainian forces shot Russian positions 444 times and over 900 Ukrainian drone attacks counted, including Crimea and in Russian border regions Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod.
“As a result, deaths and injuries among civilians are underway, as well as damage to civil buildings,” said the ministry.
The army of Ukraine said earlier on Sunday that the activity on the front line fell. Some Russian military bloggers also said that military activities along the front line have decreased significantly.
Reuters was not able to immediately verify the battlefield reports on both sides.
The visible lack of observing the suspension of Easter weapons shows how difficult it will be to US President Donald Trump to achieve his goal to end a lasting contract to end what he calls the “bloody” war in Ukraine.
The United States will move away from efforts to mediate in peace agreement, unless there are clear signs of progress soon, said Trump and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio on Friday.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a conciliator, has repeatedly warned against the risk of escalation of war – which his administration now throws as a substitute conflict between the US and Russia, reflecting the position of Moscow.
Last month, in Ukraine accepted Trump's proposal regarding a 30-day trucePutin said that key verification issues were not resolved. Both Moscow and Kiev agreed to the moratorium on attacks on energy purposes and at sea, which accuses the other of breaking.
Ukraine agreed to adopt an immediate 30-day suspension of weapons in the war with Russia during talks with American officials in Saudi Arabia, in accordance with the joint statement of Ukrainian and American delegates. Russia still has to approve the contract.
Zelenskyy repeated that Kiev was ready to extend the ceasefire for 30 days, but said that if Russia is still fighting on Sunday, Ukraine would be the same.
Putin told his best general, Valery Gerasimov, to be ready to answer “in full” if Kyiv broke the truce.
Russia controls almost one -fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, which Moscow arranged in 2014, and the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.
Putin, announcing a suspension of a weapon from going to the orthodox Easter service, said that the truce would show whether Ukraine is ready or able to implement peace. Putin thanked Trump, Chinese President XI Jinping and the leaders of the BRICS group of emerging groups for mediation attempts.
The European Union reacted carefully to the declaration of Putin's weapon suspension, saying that Moscow can immediately stop the war if it wants.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric repeated the UN support “for significant efforts for a fair, durable and comprehensive peace that fully maintains the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Easter falls on the same day this year for the Orthodox and Western churches, and Zelensky called Ukrainians not to give up hope that one day peace would return.
“We know what we defend. We know what we are fighting for,” he said in a film in social media, wearing a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt and standing in front of the main church of Kiev, the cathedral of Saint Sophia.