Kharkiv, Ukraine: Ukraine’s armed forces charged Russia with flouting an Orthodox Easter truce through almost 470 breaches, encompassing airstrikes, drone assaults, and artillery fire, shortly after it took effect.
On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin announced the ceasefire – more than a week after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first suggested it. The two nations had committed to upholding the 32-hour halt, set by the Kremlin to run from 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) Saturday through Sunday’s end, AFP reported.
Late on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said in a Facebook post: “469 ceasefire violations were recorded, namely: 22 enemy assault actions, 153 shelling attacks, 19 strikes by attack drones… and 275 strikes by FPV drones.”
Across the day, it tallied 57 Russian air strikes dropping 182 guided bombs, plus 3,928 drones and 2,454 shelling targeting civilian zones and Ukrainian defences.
Russia’s Kursk region governor, Alexander Khinshtein, countered that Kyiv violated the truce with a drone strike on a Lgov gas station, wounding three, including an infant.
In his evening speech, Zelenskyy pushed for an extended pause. “We have put this proposal to Russia, and if Russia again chooses war instead of peace, this will once again demonstrate to the world, and to the United States, who really wants what.”
Kharkiv residents, battered by routine border assaults, voiced caution.
“It’s not for long, a day and a half, so maybe it will hold,” said 65-year-old Oleg Polyskin. “But even if you’re going to church, there is no 100-per cent guarantee that everything will be peaceful… you shouldn’t trust Putin and his government,” he added.
Sixteen-year-old Sofiia Liapina hoped: “It would be nice if nothing happened tonight and it was quiet, without air-raid alerts. But we can’t know — because our neighbours can’t be trusted.”
Pre-Truce Barrage And POW Swap
Just before the truce, Russia unleashed over 160 drones, killing four in Ukraine’s east and south while injuring dozens more, officials reported.
The sides still exchanged 175 prisoners of war apiece Saturday, alongside 14 civilians – seven each. Ukrainian soldier Maksym, released after four years captive, reflected: “I still haven’t really realised that I’m finally here — that now I can make my dreams reality, that I am finally free.”
Last year’s Easter truce similarly drew violation claims from both.
Diplomatic Impasse Persists
Middle East tensions have frozen US-brokered talks to end the four-year war. Even prior to Iran’s conflict, territorial disputes slowed progress: Ukraine favors current front-line freezes, but Russia insists on Kyiv ceding all Donetsk holdings – a non-starter for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected notions of prior truce talks with Ukraine or the US, calling it unrelated to peace efforts.
The conflict has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced millions – Europe’s grimmest since World War II. Russia clings to over 19% of Ukraine, largely from 2022’s outset. Kyiv’s southeast gains have blunted Moscow’s momentum since late 2025, notes the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
