Ukraine and Russia have accused of violating a “Easter truce” announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine said he was being violated from the moment he began.
In a surprise announcement on Saturday, Putin ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” in the first line in the war against Ukraine, citing humanitarian reasons. The cessation of 30 -hour hostilities would have been the most significant pause in the fight through the three -year conflict.
But only a few hours after the order was destined to enter into force, the sirens of air attacks sounded in kyiv and in several other Ukrainian regions, with President Volodyyyr Zenskyy accusing Russia of having maintained their attacks and participants.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also claimed on Sunday that Ukraine had broken the truce more than 1,000 times.
“In several frontline addresses, there have already been 59 cases of Russian bombings and five assaults by the Russian units,” Zenskyy said on social networks, citing a report at 6 am (03:00 GMT) of Oleksandr Ukrainian in chief.
He said that in six hours until midnight (21:00 GMT on Saturday), there were “387 cases of bombing and 19 assaults by the Russian forces”, with drones “used by the Russians 290 times.”
“In general, from the morning of Easter, we can affirm that the Russian army is trying to create the general impression of a high fire, while the areas are still isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses to Ukraine,” said Zenskyy.
“In practice, Putin does not have total control over his army, or the situation shows that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine movement to end the war, and they are only interested in a favorable provercy,” he added.
According to the Kremlin, Fighting stopped at 6 PM, Moscow time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday until midnight on Sunday (21:00 GMT) due to Easter.
But as the church bells are classified for Easter services on Sunday, kyiv residents expressed doubts if Russia would observe the truce of the letter.
Natalia Malaieva said an air attack alert was heard in Kyiv moments after the truce begged.
“The missiles and drones flew. There were explosions caused by missiles,” he said. “What child or a high fire is that?”
Olha Malashuk added: “Hello [Putin] Probable wants to refer to troops … That is why nobody believes him anymore. “
Accusations and contracus
In a statement on social networks on Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Ukrainian forces had shot Russian positions 444 times and had counted more than 900 attacks by Ukrainian drones.
He added that Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod’s border regions had been attacked. “As a result, there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population, as well as damage to civil objects,” said the ministry.
Citing a source in “Operating Services”, the Russian state news agency Tass said that at least three explosions were heard in the Donetsk Budennovsky district in East Ukraine, which has been under Russia’s control since 2014.
The report blamed the Ukrainian forces so he said it was an attack carried out the duration of the truce. There were no immediate comments from Ukraine.
Ria Novosti’s news agency also reported that at least three explosions were heard after 9 am (06:00 GMT).
A Ukrainian military spokesman confirmed that the activities on the front with Russia had decreased, but the fight had not stopped.
“It is decreasing, but you have disappeared,” Viktor Trehubov told national television.
“To be honest, we did not have much hope that this really happened,” said the military spokesman of the Eastern Front of Ukraine.
In informing from Moscow, Yulia Shapovalova de Al Jazeera said that both parties were accusing each other, but according to analysts, it is almost impossible to stop all hostilities immediately. But in general, the situation on the battlefield is much quieter, and the number of attacks has decreased.
“The Russian reaction to this high fire is very positive,” he added.
“People expect it to last, and analysts also say that Russia and Putin are probably in a favorable position at this time for a higher truce and peace negotiations, bar in account Russia’s profits on the battlefield and the efforts of Usy Satur.
‘A pure political step’
Andrei Fedorov, a former Vice Minister of Russian Foreign Affairs, described Putin’s announcement “a pure political step” and said they were tasks for national and international reasons.
“Easter is one of the main vacations for Russia and Putin wants to demonstrate that it is following the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church,” Al Jazeera told.
“At the same time, it is a very important test for him if Ukraine will do the same, because there will be a new stage of conversations about Ukraine, [and] It is very important that Putin has real arguments that say: ‘Mira, Ukraine does not follow the agreements. Ukraine is breaking the fire. “
Putin’s announcement occurred one day after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said Washington “will take a pass” when trying to solve the Russian-Ukraine War if Moscow or kyiv make it too difficult to finish it.
When informing of Washington, DC, Rosalind Jordan de Al Jazeera, he said that NInter Side can currently afford to anger the Trump administration.
“Especially now that they are saying very publicly here in Washington that they are ready to get away, just although President Trump has repeatedly said that he is tired of what he calls the ‘butcher shop’ in the war between Ukraine, he said.
But there has not been a Trump administration reaction this weekend to development in the Ukraine War.
Vladimir Sotnikov, an associate professor of international relations at the Moscow Higher School of Economics, said Hefears Trump has “jumped to” a peace plan that “will not work in the near future.”
“Both parties, Ukraine and Russia, are still far from sitting at the table and trying to talk to each Ohher,” Sotnikov told Al Jazeera.
“This was also something promised by President Trump,” he said, “but the main problem, in reality, is that both parties still have a deep distrust of each other.”
