Easter truce collapses

Russia and Ukraine resumed strikes after a 32-hour Easter ceasefire expired, ending a brief pause both sides said the other repeatedly broke. (apnews.com) The Kremlin’s truce ran from 4 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, April 11, to the end of Sunday, April 12. President Vladimir Putin announced it on Thursday, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would observe it if Russian forces did. (apnews.com) By Monday, April 13, the two governments were publishing sharply different counts of alleged breaches. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine committed 1,971 violations, while Ukraine’s General Staff said it had logged 7,696 Russian violations by 10 p.m. Sunday. (aa.com.tr) Ukraine’s military had earlier reported 2,299 violations by 7 a.m. Sunday, including 28 assault actions, 479 shelling incidents and 747 attack-drone strikes. It also said there were no missile strikes, guided bomb strikes or Shahed-type drone attacks during that early phase of the truce. (cbsnews.com) Reuters reported that the ceasefire brought a lull in long-range Russian air raids but not a halt to frontline fighting. In the Kharkiv region after the truce ended, Russian drones hit residential buildings in the village of Ivashky and hospitalized a 62-year-old woman and her 85-year-old mother, according to regional officials. (reuters.com (independent.co.uk) The failed truce came as the war moved through its fifth year after Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Even short holiday pauses have repeatedly collapsed under mutual accusations of shelling, drone attacks and ground assaults. (apnews.com) Both sides used the Easter pause to press wider political arguments. Moscow cast the ceasefire as a humanitarian gesture, while Zelensky urged Russia to extend the halt beyond Easter and said Ukraine’s response would mirror Russian actions on the battlefield. (reuters.com (france24.com) Independent verification of the competing violation counts remains difficult because journalists and monitors cannot freely assess the entire 1,000-kilometer-plus front. What is clear by April 13 is that the Easter pause ended the way many wartime truces do: with each side blaming the other and the strikes starting again. (aa.com.tr)