Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of hundreds of violations of a short Easter ceasefire that came into force on Saturday on the front line in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that the ceasefire would run from 16:00 local time on Saturday until midnight on Sunday, lasting 32 hours over the Orthodox Easter period.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to the truce proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, while warning that Kyiv would respond to any breaches.
Endless violations
In a statement, Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had violated the ceasefire 2,299 times by Sunday morning along the 1,200-kilometre front line.
It reported 28 attacks, 479 artillery strikes, 747 drone strikes using systems such as “Lancet” and “Molniya”, and 1,045 FPV drone strikes.
However, it said there were no missile strikes, guided aerial bombs, or attacks using Shahed-type drones during the period.
Shortly afterwards, Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of breaching the ceasefire 1,971 times.
It said Kyiv had opened fire 258 times using artillery or tanks, carried out 1,329 FPV drone strikes, and used various munitions on 375 occasions, mainly involving drones.
Moscow also claimed Ukraine launched three overnight attacks on Russian positions and made four attempted advances on the front line, all of which it said were repelled.
A similar Easter truce last year was also marked by mutual accusations of violations.
Despite several rounds of US-mediated negotiations in recent months, the two sides have failed to reach an agreement to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Efforts have since stalled further as Washington’s attention has increasingly shifted towards Iran.