Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Easter truce
KRAMATORSK: Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of violating an Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.The 30-hour truce had been meant to start Saturday to mark the religious holiday, but Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of keeping up its attacks on the front line.While Ukrainian troops told AFP that fighting had eased, Zelensky said Russian forces staged hundreds of shelling and drone assaults along the front line despite the surprise truce.'The Ukrainian army is acting and will continue to act in an absolutely mirror image' of Russia,' he warned.Zelensky also renewed a proposal for a 30-day truce.Moscow said it had 'repelled' assaults by Ukraine and accused Kyiv of launching hundreds of drones and shells, causing civilian casualties.'Despite the announcement of the Easter truce, Ukrainian units at night made attempts to attack' Russia's positions in the Donetsk region, its defense ministry added.Russian troops had 'strictly observed the ceasefire,' the defense ministry insisted.Rescue services in the eastern town of Kostyantynivka said they had recovered the bodies of a man and a woman from the ruins of building hit the previous day by Russian shelling.The Russian-appointed mayor of Gorlovka in occupied Donetsk, Ivan Prikhodko, said two civilians had been wounded there, without giving details.Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and now occupies around 20 percent of the country.Putin's order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US President Donald Trump to get the war rivals to agree to a ceasefire.But on Friday, Trump threatened to withdraw from talks if no progress was made.Ukrainian soldiers told AFP that they had noticed a lull in fighting.A drone unit commander said that Russia's activity had 'significantly decreased both in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions,' combat zones in the south and northeast where the unit is active.'Several assaults were recorded, but those were solitary incidents involving small groups,' the commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.'Fewer guys (soldiers) will die today.'Russian 'artillery is not working. it is quiet compared to a regular day,' Sergiy, a junior lieutenant fighting in the Sumy border region, wrote to AFP in a message.Ukrainian troops 'are on the defensive,' he added. 'If the enemy doesn't move forward, they don't shoot.'AFP journalists monitoring in eastern Ukraine heard fewer explosions than usual and saw no smoke on the horizon.Putin announced a truce from 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) Saturday to midnight Sunday Moscow time (2100 GMT), saying it was motivated by 'humanitarian reasons.'Zelensky responded that Ukraine was ready to follow suit and proposed extending the truce for 30 days to 'give peace a chance.'But he said Sunday that Russia 'has not yet responded to this.'Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had given no order to extend the truce.In Kyiv, as Easter Sunday bells rang out, people doubted Russia's good faith.'They've already broken their promise,' said 38-year-old Olga Grachova, who works in marketing. 'Unfortunately, we cannot trust Russia today.'Natalia, a 41-year-old medic, said of Zelensky's 30-day proposal: 'Everything we offer, unfortunately, remains only our offers. Nobody responds to them.'People in Moscow welcomed an Easter truce and hoped for more progress toward an end to the war.'We dreamt of course that peace would come by Easter. Let it come soon,' said Svetlana, a 34-year-old housewife.'I think that this awful thing will end at some point, but not soon,' said Irina Volkova, a 73-year-old pensioner.'All is not going well for us in Ukraine,' she added. 'People are dying, our guys are dying.'Moscow said this weekend that it had now recovered 99.5 percent of its Kursk region, which Ukrainian troops occupied in a surprise offensive in August.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Saudi Gazette
Crush kills 29 pupils taking exams after blast in Central Africa
BANGUI — Twenty-nine children who were taking their school exams in the Central African Republic have been killed in a crush after a nearby explosion caused panic, a hospital director told the BBC. The blast, on the second day of the high-school finals on Wednesday, occurred at an electricity transformer, said Abel Assaye from the Bangui community hospital. "The noise of the explosion, combined with smoke" caused alarm among the almost 6,000 students sitting the baccalaureate at a school in the capital, Bangui, local radio station Ndeke Luka reported. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra has declared a period of national mourning. He also ordered that the more than 280 who were wounded in the crush get free treatment in hospital. Students from five different schools in the capital had gone to the Lycée Barthélémy Boganda to sit the baccalaureate exam. The education ministry said the explosion happened after power was restored at the electricity transformer, located on the ground floor of the main building, that had been undergoing repairs. "I also offer our sincere condolences to the parents of the affected candidates and wish a speedy recovery to the injured candidates," Education Minister Aurelien-Simplice Kongbelet-Zimgas said in a statement. He also announced the suspension of further exams. A female survivor spoke to the BBC. "I don't even remember what happened. We were in the exam room and when I heard a noise, I immediately fell into a daze," she said. "Since then, I have had a pain in my pelvis that is causing me a lot of problems." Radio France Internationale spoke to another student whose face was covered in blood after he had climbed out of a window. Magloire explained that the blast happened during the history and geography exam. "The students wanted to save their lives, and as they fled, they saw death because there were so many people and the door was really small. Not everyone could get out," he told RFI. The CAR continues to face political instability and security challenges. Government forces, backed by Russian mercenaries, are battling armed groups threatening to overthrow Touadéra's administration. — BBC
Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Saudi Gazette
Slovaks veto Russia sanctions at EU Council
BRUSSELS — Thursday's EU Council summit suffered a huge setback after Robert Fico, Slovakia's prime minister, announced he would maintain his veto on the next round of sanctions against Russia, which diplomats hoped to approve on Friday. Fico's opposition involves a separate matter: the European Commission's proposed phase-out of Russian fossil fuels, including oil and gas, which Slovakia, as well as Hungary, continues to be dependent on. Fico met with Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday morning to discuss his reservations, including his fear that Gazprom, Russia's gas monopoly, would file a billion-euro lawsuit if his country breaks up its long-term gas contract. The Commission, however, says the proposed bans would act as "force majeure" to avoid damages in court. But Fico did not seem convinced. "Therefore, this issue must be resolved first: let's define the solution, and only then can we discuss further sanctions packages," Fico said in a video message posted on his Facebook account shortly after 18.00 CET. "If our proposal to postpone the vote is not accommodated, the Slovak ambassador will receive a clear instruction to veto the adoption of the 18th sanctions package." Meanwhile, the 27 leaders agreed to disagree on what to do next with the review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which found "indications" that Israel had breached its human rights obligations with its actions in Gaza and the West Bank. The highly anticipated review was requested in May by a group of 17 countries. Thursday's summit was the first time that leaders discussed the findings face-to-face. But sharp divisions in the room, from Spain to Germany, prevented any specific outcome. Instead, leaders asked their foreign ministers to continue the internal process "as appropriate" when they meet in Brussels on 15 July. During that meeting, High Representative Kaja Kallas is expected to present potential follow-up options, even if none of them are likely to gather the necessary qualified majority to move forward. Exasperation is growing: Slovenia's prime minister raised the prospect of forming a coalition of the willing to put "real pressure" on Israel if the bloc failed to act as one. — Euronews
Arab News
2 days ago
- Arab News
Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs
CHERNIGIV REGION, Ukraine: Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Neither side said how many prisoners were released in the latest exchange. The two countries pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers each during their direct meeting in Istanbul on June 2 but no follow-up talks have been scheduled. The return of prisoners of war and the repatriation of war dead have been among the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. 'Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media. He shared images of Ukrainian soldiers draped in blue-and-yellow national flags, smiling and tearfully embracing. AFP reporters in Ukraine's northern Chernigiv region saw relatives awaiting the prisoner release. Some family members waved posters of missing or captured soldiers in the hope someone would recognize their loved ones and bring them news. Svitlana Nosal learned her husband Viktor had been freed. 'It's such a joy, I don't know how to describe it, how to put it into words,' she said, laughing and crying in the late afternoon sun. The majority of those released on Thursday were held captive for more than three years, according to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Many of them were taken prisoner in Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city that fell to Russian forces in 2022 following a nearly three-month siege, it said. Russia said its soldiers had been transferred to Belarus and were receiving 'psychological and medical care.' 'Another group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,' the defense ministry said in a statement. It posted a video showing freed Russian soldiers draped in their national flag, chanting 'Russia, Russia, Russia!'
