Russian President Vladimir Putin has violated a self-imposed Easter ceasefire in his Ukraine war with several strikes and assaults overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
“We can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places it is still trying to make individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel.
The Kremlin on Saturday announced a unilateral ceasefire on the occasion of Easter until midnight Sunday. But Saturday night the Ukrainian army already reported continued Russian attacks with artillery and drones — in line with Moscow’s long history of violating ceasefires.
Zelenskyy vowed to “mirror” Putin’s actions in the Kursk, Belgorod, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions, among others.
“Ukraine, together with our partners, is ready to move towards peace as constructively as possible, but we need Russia’s readiness,” Zelenskyy reiterated in another message. He also demanded Russia comply with the ceasefire, and insisted on extending it for 30 days.
The U.S. has been trying to broker a truce agreement between both sides for weeks, but Moscow rejected a recent offer for a month-long full ceasefire, which Ukraine had already agreed to. While Putin did agree to halt attacks on energy facilities and civilian infrastructure, the Kremlin violated that deal after one hour.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon peace talks if both sides don’t play ball and make progress toward a ceasefire.
“If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people’ and we’re going to take a pass,” Trump said on Friday.
Just a week ago, Russia launched a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy as people were gathering to celebrate Palm Sunday, killing more than 30 and wounding another 117 in one the deadliest attacks this year.
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