Easter ceasefire falters
Russia and Ukraine announced a temporary Orthodox Easter ceasefire and swapped 175 prisoners each, but the pause quickly broke down as both sides reported continued strikes and violations. Ukrainian officers reported new Russian drone attacks after the Kremlin-declared pause took effect, and by Sunday both governments were accusing the other of hundreds to thousands of violations — President Zelensky vowed a “symmetrical” response. (aljazeera.com) (reuters.com) (apnews.com)
Russia’s Orthodox Easter ceasefire with Ukraine began on Saturday and started unraveling within hours, with both sides reporting fresh attacks and repeated violations. (apnews.com) President Vladimir Putin ordered a 32-hour halt in fighting from 4 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, April 11, to the end of Sunday, April 12. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would observe the pause but answer any breach in kind. (abcnews.com) Before the truce took effect, Russia launched 160 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian authorities said, killing at least two people in Odesa and wounding two more after strikes hit homes and a kindergarten. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 99 Ukrainian drones over Russia and occupied Crimea. (apnews.com) Ukraine and Russia also completed a prisoner exchange on Saturday, with 175 prisoners of war returned by each side. Zelenskyy said Ukraine also brought home seven civilians, while Russia said seven civilians from the Kursk region were returned as well. (usnews.com) By Sunday morning, Ukraine’s military said it had logged 2,299 Russian violations between 4 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, including 479 shelling incidents, 747 kamikaze drone attacks and 1,045 first-person-view drone strikes. Zelenskyy said there were no missile, guided-bomb or Shahed drone strikes during that period. (kyivindependent.com) Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine violated the truce 1,971 times and accused Kyiv’s forces of shelling Russian positions and civilian areas. The rival counts could not be independently verified. (france24.com) The ceasefire came as the war entered its fifth year and after months of stalled diplomacy over a broader settlement. Putin had announced a similar Easter pause last year, and both governments accused the other side of breaking that truce too. (nbcnews.com) Zelenskyy used the holiday pause to press for a longer halt, saying if calm held, Ukraine proposed extending the ceasefire beyond Easter. By Sunday, the fighting reports had turned the truce into another brief test of whether either side would sustain even a short pause. (aljazeera.com)
