Ukrainian and Russian officials accused each other of violating a ceasefire and truce that was supposed to temporarily halt the military conflict during the Easter holiday on Sunday. And, while they were accusing each other of violating the Easter “truce” they also agreed to a prisoner exchange of over 500 captured service members.
This weekend’s activities began when Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed an “Easter truce” between his country and Ukraine, in honor of the holiday. The temporary ceasefire would begin on Saturday at 6 p.m. Moscow time and last until midnight on Monday, the Washington Examiner reported.
Both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued statements regarding the truce.
“We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example,” Putin said.
“If Russia is now suddenly ready to actually join the format of complete and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act in a mirror image, as it will on the Russian side,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, regarding the proposed Easter truce. “Silence in response to silence, strikes in defense of strikes.”
However, both sides eventually accused the other of not honoring the truce. Hours after Putin’s proposal, Ukrainian officials claimed Russian forces disregarded the truce and continued firing weapons and drones into Ukraine.
“According to the report of the commander-in-chief, Russian assault operations continue in some parts of the front line and Russian artillery continues to fire,” Zelensky said in a post on X on Saturday night, hours after the temporary ceasefire was supposed to go into effect.
Zelensky highlighted the “number of violations by the Russian army of Russia’s own ceasefire promise,” claiming there were “96 Russian assaults, 1,882 instances of shelling on our positions, including 812 involving heavy weaponry, and over 950 instances of FPV drone use by Russian forces.”
In response, the Associated Press reported on Sunday night that Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine had violated the terms of the Easter truce, maintaining that there were attacks on Saturday night into Sunday morning in the Donetsk region. Officials said there were 48 drone attacks in Russian territory, asserting that there were “dead and wounded among the civilian population.”
Russian officials also maintained that their troops had followed the truce and did not break the temporary ceasefire, according to the Associated Press.
Additionally, as both governments were accusing the other of breaking the Easter truce, there was a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia that involved the transfer of over 500 prisoners of war, Reuters reported. Officials said that 277 Ukrainians captured by Russia were exchanged for 246 Russian service members that Ukraine took into custody during the war.
