What was intended as a brief pause in hostilities for Orthodox Easter between Russia and Ukraine quickly disintegrated on Saturday, with each nation accusing the other of breaking the truce.
In the Russian city of Lgov, located in the border region of Kursk, Russian authorities alleged that Ukraine launched an attack on a gas station. The incident reportedly left three individuals injured, including a one-year-old child and the child’s mother, with the child suffering a head injury from shrapnel.
Alexander Khinshtein, governor of the Kursk region, condemned the attack on Telegram, stating, “This cowardly strike by the enemy took place shortly after 4 p.m. — after the declared Easter ceasefire had already gone into effect.” He went on to criticize the Ukrainian forces, saying, “It serves as stark proof that these Ukrainian subhumans hold nothing sacred.”
As of yet, Ukrainian officials have not issued an immediate response to these allegations. However, Kyiv has also criticized Moscow for failing to honor the Easter truce, an initiative for which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had advocated.
According to claims from Ukraine’s General Staff, Russia breached the ceasefire more than 400 times, resorting to drones and artillery fire despite the agreed-upon pause in combat.
Russia violated the ceasefire more than 400 times, firing drones and artillery, Ukraine’s General Staff claimed.
Combat also occurred along the frontlines.
“The cease-fire is not being observed by the Russian side,” said Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for Ukraine’s 148th Separate Artillery Brigade.
A similar truce also unraveled during Easter last year, when both sides accused the other of hundreds of violations.
Earlier in the day, Zelensky had expressed hope that the weekend truce would lead to a more permanent peace.
“Easter should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire on Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace – our side has made the corresponding proposal,” Zelensky wrote on X Saturday morning, before the cease-fire was shattered.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin agreed Thursday to the 32-hour truce proposed by Zelensky a week earlier – and meant to last from 4 p.m. local time Saturday to midnight on Sunday — halting the four-year war temporarily.
But Moscow strikes killed four civilians and wounded at least 36 others overnight into Saturday — hours before the cease-fire was set to take effect — with the port region of Odesa badly hit. There, a massive drone attack on a residential area sparked fires that killed two people and injured one.
Despite continued tensions, the warring sides managed to exchange 175 prisoners each earlier in the day, according to officials.
Meanwhile Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev is in the US this weekend meeting members of President Trump’s administration to talk about peace negotiations and US-Russia economic cooperation.
With Post Wires
