The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, said April 20 that the Russian forces continue to bomb and assault on the front line, despite the fact that his Russian couple Vladimir Putin announced a surprise and brief Easter truce the eve.
The 30 -hour truce would have been the most significant pause in the three years of conflict. But hours before the moment in which the truce had to enter into force, the anti -aircraft sirens resonated in kyiv and in other Ukrainian regions, and Zelenski accused Russia of maintaining the attacks.
“Create the impression of a high fire”
“Throughout several directions of the front line there have been 59 cases of Russian bombings and five assaults of Russian units,” Zelenski wrote on social networks, citing a bolet of the 06h00 (03h00 GMT) of the Ukrainian commander in Chief Ukrainian, Oleksander Sirski.
He said that in the six hours before Saturday, there were “387 instances of bombings and 19 assaults of the Russian forces”, and drones were “used 290 times by the Russian forces.”
“For Easter morning we can say that the Russian army tries to create the impression of a fire, while in some areas the isolated attempts continue to advance and cause casualties in Ukraine,” said Zelenski. For his part, the head of the administration of Jersón (South), Oleksander Prokudin, indicated that a person died “in a combined attack of the enemy” in the city of Stanislav.
Putin’s order to suspend the fighting on Easter weekend arrived after months of failed attempts from the US president, Donald Trump, to mediate a truce between Moscow and kyiv. Washington threatened Friday with withdrawing from conversations if there is no progress.
Exchange of prisoners
“Today, from 6:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. GMT) and until midnight on Sunday (21h00 GMT), the Russian part declares a Easter truce,” Putin announced this Saturday during a meeting with the head of the Russian Staff, Valeri Guerásimov, broadcast on television.
Zelenski responded in X that “if Russia is suddenly willing to really compromise (…) Ukraine will act accordingly, reflecting Russia’s actions.” Previously, the Ukrainian president said that Putin had rejected a previous proposal of high the total and unconditional fire of 30 days and urged Russia to extend the truce.
Other attempts to establish a truce on the important dates of the Christian calendar, such as the Easter of 2022 and the Orthodox Christmas of 2023, have failed so far.
For millions of Ukrainians, Easter is one of the most important parties, and “millions of Ukrainians will go to church,” Zelenski said in a message on Saturday night. “In the years of this total war, Russian attacks have destroyed or damaged more than 600 churches, prayer houses and praise sites,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia announced on Saturday that they had exchanged 246 retained soldiers as prisoners of war, thanks to the mediation of United Arab Emirates. According to the Emiratí Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 31 injured Ukrainians and 15 Russians injured were also exchanged.
On the other hand, Russia said yesterday that he had resumed the penultimate town that was under Ukrainian control in the border region of Kursk. Ukraine hoped to use his control of that region as a currency in a peace negotiation with Russia.
