Easter ceasefire collapsed

Russia and Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire lasted 32 hours on paper and barely that in practice, with both sides accusing the other of thousands of violations by April 13. (france24.com) President Vladimir Putin announced the truce on April 9, ordering Russian forces to stop fighting from 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 11, until midnight on Sunday, April 12, for Orthodox Easter. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would observe the pause but warned Ukrainian forces would answer any attacks. (cbsnews.com) By the end of the window, Ukraine’s military said it had logged 10,721 Russian violations, after earlier reporting 7,696 by late Sunday. Russian state media, citing the Defense Ministry, said Moscow counted more than 6,500 Ukrainian violations. (dailysabah.com) (tass.com) The accusations came with reports of real attacks, not just dueling statements. Reuters reported that a Russian drone strike killed one person in Donetsk region before the truce expired, while Ukrainian officials also reported a strike on an ambulance that injured three paramedics. (whbl.com) (independent.co.uk) There was one narrow sign of restraint: several outlets reported a lull in long-range air and missile attacks even as fighting continued across the front. France 24 and Reuters both described fewer air raids during the truce than in the days before it. (france24.com) (straitstimes.com) That distinction matters on a battlefield that stretches roughly 1,200 kilometers and mixes artillery, drones, missiles and small-unit assaults. A pause can look real in one city and nonexistent a few miles away. (france24.com) (aljazeera.com) The Easter truce also followed earlier Ukrainian calls for a holiday pause. Zelenskyy said on April 1 that a ceasefire over Easter could signal that diplomacy still had a chance, and on April 8 he repeated that a ceasefire should come before a broader end to the war. (president.gov.ua 1) (president.gov.ua 2) Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said from the start that a short unilateral truce without enforcement tools was unlikely to hold. In its April 12 assessment, the group said both Ukrainian and Russian sources were already accusing each other of violations during the holiday pause. (understandingwar.org) Russia’s line was that its forces stayed in place and “strictly observed” the ceasefire, according to the Defense Ministry statement carried by TASS. Ukraine’s line was that Russia used the truce as cover for continued attacks and that any quiet was partial and temporary. (tass.com) (abcnews.com) By Monday, the truce had expired and overnight drone strikes had resumed. The episode left the same result as last year’s Easter pause: a brief dip in some attacks, no verified mechanism to police the line, and no lasting stop to the war. (english.alarabiya.net) (aljazeera.com)