Easter truce breaches
During the 32‑hour Orthodox Easter truce on April 11–13 both sides accused the other of thousands of ceasefire breaches, according to public reports. ( ) Ukraine reported 2,299 alleged Russian breaches while Russia claimed 1,971 Ukrainian violations, and Ukraine’s General Staff cited a total of 10,721 incidents during the pause. ( )
Russia and Ukraine used a 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire to trade new claims of mass violations, not to stop counting fire. (reuters.com) The Kremlin said the pause would run from 4 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, April 11, to midnight on Sunday, April 12, after President Vladimir Putin announced it on April 9. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would observe the truce if Russia did. (reuters.com) By early Sunday, Ukraine’s General Staff said it had logged 2,299 Russian breaches, including 28 assaults, 479 shelling attacks, 747 attack-drone strikes and 1,045 first-person-view drone strikes. Russia’s Defence Ministry said Ukraine committed 1,971 violations over roughly the same period. (aljazeera.com) Later on April 12, Reuters reported Ukraine had raised its running total to 7,696 Russian violations during the truce, including 115 assault operations, 1,355 artillery incidents and 6,226 attack-drone strikes. Reuters said it could not independently verify either side’s battlefield reports. (reuters.com) On April 13, Ukraine’s General Staff published a higher final figure of 10,721 alleged Russian violations since the ceasefire began, alongside 119 assaults, 1,567 artillery strikes and 9,035 kamikaze-drone strikes. That count came from the Ukrainian military and was carried by Ukrainska Pravda. (pravda.com.ua) Even with those competing claims, several reports described one narrow change: no major missile, air or long-range Shahed-type drone strikes were reported during the truce window. Fighting on the front line and short-range drone attacks continued. (reuters.com, aljazeera.com) That pattern fit the war’s recent diplomacy. Reuters reported the Easter pause came as United States-led efforts to broker a broader settlement had stalled, and Al Jazeera reported the two sides remained deadlocked over territory even as prisoner exchanges continued. (reuters.com, aljazeera.com) The holiday truce also echoed last year’s Easter pause, when both sides again accused the other of breaking the agreement. This year’s version lasted just 32 hours and ended with Moscow saying it would not extend it. (reuters.com, aljazeera.com) The result was a ceasefire that reduced some of the war’s longest-range strikes but left the front line active enough for both armies to claim thousands of breaches before Easter weekend ended. (reuters.com, pravda.com.ua)
