Russian attacks during Easter ceasefire declared by Putin kill three in Ukraine

Russian attacks during the 30-hour Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by President Vladimir Putin over the weekend killed three people in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the local governor said on Monday.

Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram that the casualties occurred over the last 24 hours, adding that three other people were injured.

Overall, Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram statement in the early hours on Monday.

Mr Zelensky said Russian forces carried out 96 assault operations along the front line, shelled Ukrainian positions more than 1,800 times, and used hundreds of drones during the course of the ceasefire.

“The nature of Ukrainian actions will continue to be mirror-like: we will respond to silence with silence, and our blows will be a defence against Russian blows. Actions always speak louder than words,” he said.

The Russian Defence Ministry, for its part, listed 4,900 Ukrainian violations of the ceasefire. It charged that Moscow’s forces “strictly observed the ceasefire and remained at previously occupied lines and positions”.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Putin said that the fighting resumed after the ceasefire expired at midnight.

Commenting on Mr Zelensky’s call for a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire or, at least, a halt on strikes on civilian facilities, the Russian leader noted that Kyiv was trying to “seize the initiative,” adding that “we must think about it, carefully assess everything and look at the results of the ceasefire”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia would inform “all the interested parties” about the Ukrainian violations of the ceasefire.

Mr Peskov said that Russia “remains open to searching for a peaceful settlement and is continuing to work with the American side,” adding that “we certainly hope that this work will produce results”.

Overnight into Monday, Russian forces fired three missiles at Ukraine’s southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv, as well as 96 Shahed drones targeting other parts of the country, Ukraine’s air force reported.

It said it downed 42 drones, while 47 others were jammed mid-flight.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian drones sparked a fire at an “outbuilding” and a “food enterprise,” Governor Serhii Lysak wrote on Telegram.

No-one was injured in the attack, he added.

An unspecified infrastructure object was damaged in the Cherkasy region overnight, Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram.

In a statement on Monday, the Russian Defence Ministry maintained that Moscow’s forces “strictly observed the ceasefire and remained at previously occupied lines and positions”.

It accused Ukraine of violating the ceasefire 4,900 times, including six attempts at assault operations, 1,404 attacks from artillery, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, and 3,316 drone strikes targeting Russian troops.

The ministry said that, once the ceasefire expired, the Russian military “resumed the special military operation” in Ukraine.