Easter truce collapses
A brief Orthodox Easter ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine collapsed within hours as both sides accused the other of widespread violations. Reports said more than a thousand drone and shelling attacks occurred early on, by Monday the truce had expired after each side claimed roughly 2,000 violations, and the pause did nonetheless allow a 175‑prisoner exchange amid deep scepticism from soldiers and civilians. (reuters.com) (aljazeera.com) (theguardian.com) (bbc.com)
Russia’s Orthodox Easter ceasefire with Ukraine collapsed within hours, with both sides reporting continued attacks before the pause expired on Monday. (reuters.com) President Vladimir Putin announced the truce on Saturday for the Easter holiday, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would mirror it if Russian forces actually stopped firing. By Sunday, Ukrainian officials said Russian troops had carried out more than 1,000 attacks, while Moscow said Kyiv had hit Russian positions hundreds of times. (aljazeera.com) When the ceasefire ended on Monday, each side was claiming roughly 2,000 violations. Reuters reported that the brief pause still produced one concrete result: a prisoner exchange of 175 captives from each side. (reuters.com) The truce was one of the rare attempts to slow fighting in a war that has now entered its fifth year. It also came after months of grinding battles and long-range drone and missile strikes that have kept civilians under regular air-raid alerts far from the front. (bbc.com) Orthodox Easter gave the proposal symbolic weight in both Russia and Ukraine, where many Christians mark the holiday on the same calendar. But soldiers and residents interviewed by news outlets said they doubted a short unilateral pause could hold without a broader agreement and a way to monitor it. (theguardian.com) The Kremlin said Putin had not ordered any extension beyond Sunday. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would consider longer quiet if Russia stopped strikes for 30 days, a proposal he had raised earlier and repeated after the Easter pause began to fray. (bbc.com) Both governments used the weekend to press rival narratives. Moscow cast the ceasefire as a humanitarian gesture and accused Ukraine of sabotaging it, while Kyiv said Russia announced the pause for political effect and then kept shelling Ukrainian positions. (aljazeera.com) The result was a holiday ceasefire that briefly lowered some air activity, freed prisoners, and then ended where it began: with artillery, drones, and dueling accusations across the front. (theguardian.com)
