Moscow continued to start attacks on Saturday evening and Sunday dawn, although Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a 30-hour ceasefire during Easter, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Russian Ministry of Defense also accused the Ukrainian forces of doing the same.
Starting from Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of the ceasefire, but in some places it does not refuse individual attempts to advance and incur losses to Ukraine.
Zelenski said that Ukrainian troops recorded 59 Russian bombing, 26 attacks of units in various regions of the front line and dozens of airplane attacks, despite Putin’s announcement of Easter endure on Saturday.
The Ukrainian president called on Russia to fully respect its ceasefire and confirmed the proposal of Ukraine to extend the truce for 30 days from Sunday midnight.
“We will act in accordance with the current local situation,” the Ukrainian leader added.
Zelensky’s comments contradict the observations made on Saturday evening, when he said that some zones were calmer since the ceasefire was announced.
“As soon as Putin gave the order to reduce attacks, the intensity of attacks and death decreased. The only source of this war and its extension is in Russia, ”he wrote in X.
Nevertheless, Russian officers established in the partially occupied Ukrainian region Kherson also accused the Ukrainian forces of attacks during the ceasefire.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Ukraine began hundreds of attacks of seedlings and resigned in Russian positions.
On Saturday, Putin announced a one -sided ceasefire, which, according to him, will last from 18 hours of Moscow from Saturday to midnight on Easter Sunday.
The Russian president did not describe in detail how to control the ceasefire or will cover air attacks or current land battles, which unfold 24 hours a day.
The announcement was made after Donald Trump said on Friday that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were “reaching a critical point”.
Trump said that he could refuse peaceful efforts if the conversations have not advanced.
Reunification of prisoners of war with their loved ones
Nevertheless, the Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday that about 277 Ukrainian soldiers returned from Russian captivity on the largest exchange of prisoners during the conflict.
According to Ukrainian coordination coordination, most Ukrainians issued on the last exchange of prisoners are young people born after 2000 for the treatment of prisoners of war.
Dozens of family members were waiting for the return of their loved ones, abroad of the hospital in the Kornikhiv region, Northern Ukraine, where prisoners of war were recently liberated after the border change.
Among them was 48 years old -Natalia Lokhvichuk, who currently ran to the bus, she did not see her son three years ago after she was captured during the battle of Mariupol in the spring of 2022.
His son, Ihor Lokhvichuk, 23 years old, lost about 40 pounds in captivity.
“It still does not look real,” he said. “We are not here yet. We can all return, but we are not here yet. ”
“1102 days in the film is not five days,” he explained.
The mother, excited and hugged her son, appealed: “We turn to the whole world, to all countries – to help us return all our boys home.”
On the Russian side, the Ministry of Defense reported that a total of 246 military personnel returned from the territory controlled by Kiev.
Corresponding to the United Arab Emirates, the Saturday change is the fourth this year and the 63rd since the beginning of a large Russian invasion.
About 4552 Ukrainians, military and civilians have been repatriated from the beginning of the Russian war against a neighboring country in February 2022.
It is believed that thousands of others remain in captivity.