Fighting resumes in Ukraine after Russia ends Easter ceasefire

Miami Herald

22-04-2025

Russian forces launched aerial attacks targeting cities across southeastern and central Ukraine overnight, including the capital, Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said.
At least one man was injured in Kherson by artillery fire and scores of drones and missiles were launched against Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Kyiv provinces, dashing hopes that a 30-hour 'Easter' ceasefire announced by Moscow on Saturday might lead to a more permanent cessation of hostilities.
The multi-pronged airborne assault from cruise missiles, two anti-radar missiles and at least 96 mainly attack drones came out of Russia's Rostov, Kursk and Bryansk regions as well as occupied Crimea and the North Caucasus, the Ukrainian Air Force said in an update on its official Telegram account.
The wave of attacks, beginning at around 2 a.m., two hours after the cease-fire expired at midnight Sunday, continued for several hours with the air force claiming 42 of the drones had been shot down.
'The enemy attack was repelled by Ukrainian aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare systems, and mobile fire teams of the Ukrainian Defense Forces,' the air force said.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the attacks, but the state-run TASS news agency reported that Moscow's so-called 'Special Military Operation' had been restarted by Russian forces following the expiration of the cease-fire.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had not given any orders to extend it.
Both sides accused each other of widespread violations, with Moscow dismissing an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Saturday to extend the truce to 30 days, as blatant 'demagoguery' given the 4,900 cease-fire breaches by the Ukrainian army confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Ukraine also accused Moscow of violating its own cease-fire thousands of times, with Zelenskyy citing 1,882 instances of artillery bombardment, 812 of them using heavy weapons.
The frontline city of Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian forces are battling to prevent Russian forces from breaking through to link up Donetsk with other Russian-occupied territory to the west, suffered the brunt of the shelling.
However, Ukrainian authorities confirmed that across the country, there had been no air-raid alerts Sunday for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Zelenskyy's proposal for a cessation of all 'strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days, with the possibility of extension,' was far less ambitious than the comprehensive 30-day ceasefire plan hammered out between Ukraine and the United States in talks in Saudi Arabia last month.
Russia has so far failed to sign onto to the plan -- despite extensive U.S. diplomatic efforts -- but announced the 30-hour plan Saturday, hours after the United States signaled it was ready to walk away, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying Washington needed 'to move on' if an end to the war was not going to be possible.
'We need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable,' he said on a trip to Paris accompanied by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, for talks with British, French, German and Ukrainian officials.
President Donald Trump backed up Rubio's ratcheting up of the pressure but qualified it by saying that, while a breakthrough must come 'very shortly' and that he would have no hesitation in 'taking a pass' on trying to bring the two sides to the table if Moscow or Kyiv 'make it very difficult,' he was not demanding it happen by a certain date.
'We're just going to say: 'You're foolish. You're fools. You're horrible people,' and we're going to just take a pass. But hopefully we won't have to do that.'
It remains unclear what impact that might have on American military aid -- weapons and other support -- to Ukraine. Current flows are under drawdowns on assistance packages approved under the previous administration of President Joe Biden, with no fresh approvals in the three months since Trump came into office on Jan. 20.
Putin moots direct talks with Ukraine as more talks planned this week
Putin has suggested direct talks with Ukraine regarding the extension of a moratorium on attacks on certain targets.
Russia has noted that Ukraine is attempting to take the initiative on the issue of a ceasefire, seeking an extension or wanting to exclude further targets from being shelled, Putin told Russian journalists. 'We need to think about that,' he said.
While he expressed skepticism towards Kiev's proposal to refrain from attacks on civilian facilities, he said he was willing to address such issues in bilateral talks.
Putin stated that bilateral in this case means directly with the Ukrainian side, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later emphasized. So far, negotiations on a possible end to Russia's war in Ukraine have only been conducted indirectly between Moscow and Kyiv, with the United States recently stepping in as a mediator.
Negotiators from the US, Ukraine, Britain and France are due to meet in London on Wednesday for another round of talks on ending the war, Zelenskyy said on Monday.
Trump to comment on Ukraine this week
Trump has said he plans to comment on the war in Ukraine and mediation efforts in the next three days.
His remarks came at an Easter celebration in the White House garden after he was asked if there was a U.S. proposal that Ukraine must recognize Crimea as part of Russia.
Russia occupied the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula in 2014 and then annexed it in violation of international law.
'So I will be giving you a full detail over the next three days,' Trump said when asked about the issue. 'But we had very good meetings on Ukraine, Russia,' he added without providing further details.
It comes after he said on Sunday that 'hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week.'
'Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a fortune!' he wrote on Truth Social.
Kremlin welcomes US position that Ukraine won't be let into NATO
Russia on Monday said U.S. statements suggesting that Ukraine will not be allowed to join the Western defense alliance NATO align with the Russian position.
'We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine's membership of NATO is out of the question,' Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
'And this is certainly something that gives us satisfaction and is in line with our position.'
U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg told broadcaster Fox News on Sunday that NATO membership for Ukraine 'is off the table,' after Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out such a step in February.
Peskov reiterated that keeping Ukraine from joining NATO remains one of Russia's main war aims, which also include retaining control over five illegally annexed territories in eastern Ukraine.
Dpa contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.