Russia, Ukraine Trade Ceasefire Violation Claims

(MENAFN) A brief Easter ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine showed signs of immediate collapse Sunday, with both sides accusing the other of thousands of violations within hours of the truce taking effect — casting serious doubt over the durability of the short-term halt in fighting.

The Russian Defense Ministry alleged that Ukrainian armed forces had breached the ceasefire 1,971 times between Saturday — when the truce came into force — and 8 a.m. local time Sunday (0500 GMT). Moscow said Ukrainian forces carried out three overnight assaults on Russian troop positions across two settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk region, while Russian forces repelled four attempted advances on their lines in the Sumy and Donetsk regions. All Russian troop formations in the conflict zone, the ministry insisted, "strictly observed the ceasefire... and remained at their previously occupied lines and positions."

Kyiv told a sharply different story. In a post on Facebook, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported a significantly higher violation count from the Russian side. "As of 7:00 a.m. on 12 April, 2,299 ceasefire violations were recorded," the statement read.

The truce had been proclaimed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, establishing a halt in hostilities from 4 p.m. local time Saturday (1300 GMT) through the end of Orthodox Easter Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the ceasefire on Saturday, pledging that Ukraine intends to honor the ceasefire and will respond "in a strictly reciprocal manner."

With both governments now pointing fingers and battlefield incidents continuing to pile up, the fragile truce appears to be dissolving almost as quickly as it was declared — leaving little optimism for any sustained pause in one of Europe's deadliest ongoing conflicts.

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