The Russian forces resumed fighting in Ukraine on Monday (21) after the Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, reported Russian news agencies, citing the Ministry of Defense.
The Ministry of Defense stated that the Russian forces strictly observed the ceasefire and remained in their positions. The ministry accused Ukraine of violating the truce.
Earlier, Ukraine accused Russia of launching missiles and drones against the country. There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damages in the attacks, Ukrainian regional officials said on social networks.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Moscow launched 96 drones and three missiles in night attacks against Ukraine, causing damage to the regions of Kharkiv, DniproProperovsk and Cherkasy.
Air defense units slaughtered 42 Russian drones, and 47 other drones were redirected by electronic war.
Both Kiev and Moscow accused each other mutually for thousands of attacks that Kremlin indicated on Sunday (20) that would not be extended.
Washington said he would welcome a truce extension, and the president
But Putin, who launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and ordered on Saturday (19) to Moscow time, gave no orders to extend it.
“There were no other orders,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Russian state news agency Tass, when asked if the ceasefire could be prolonged.
Zelensky said on Monday morning that his forces were instructed to continue to imitate the actions of the Russian army.
“The nature of Ukraine’s actions will remain symmetrical: ceasefire will be answered with ceasefire, and Russian attacks will be answered with ours in defense. Actions always speak louder than words,” he said on social network X.
There were no reports of attacks on the Ukrainian capital, but authorities of the port city of Mykolaiv said it had been hit by Russian missiles. There were no immediate reports of damage.
The Voronezh Russian region, which borders Ukraine, was also on air strike alerts for two hours at night, and the Belgorod’s and parts and parts were also briefly under threat of missiles, regional officials said.
Although there were no air strike alerts in Ukraine on Sunday (20), the Ukrainian forces reported almost 3,000 violations of his own ceasefire, with the heavier attacks and bombings seen along the front line Pokrovsk, Zelensky said earlier on Monday (21).
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday (20) that the Ukrainian forces shot Russian positions 444 times and said he had over 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, saying that there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
US President Donald Trump, hoping to close a lasting peace agreement, showed optimism on Sunday (20),
On Friday (18), unless there were clear signs of progress soon.
