Moscow, April 20 (IANS) The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that it repelled Ukrainian attacks overnight amid a unilateral Easter truce declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Ukraine accused Russia of violating the ceasefire.
The Ministry said Russian troops “remained at previously occupied lines and positions” while Ukrainian troops “attempted to attack the positions of Russian troops” in the Donetsk region overnight, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Ministry was referring to the villages of Sukha Balka and Bagatyr in the Russian-held part of the eastern Donetsk region.
Moscow said Ukraine also attacked the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod border regions of Russia, saying that “as a result there are dead and wounded civilians”.
It added that Ukrainian forces had fired at Russian positions 444 times and counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that 26 Russian assault actions have taken place from 12 a.m. on Saturday) to noon, accusing Russia of violating its self-declared ceasefire.
Putin said the truce starts from 6 p.m. local time on Saturday and lasts until midnight on Sunday into Monday.
When announcing the truce on Saturday, Putin told troops to respond militarily to any violation of the truce.
Zelensky said Ukraine would comply with the truce but that troops would also respond “symmetrically” to any attacks.
On Sunday, Zelensky said Russian attacks were ongoing.
The Russian Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of launching “48 drones including one in Crimea”, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukrainian units “444 times shelled… the positions of our troops and carried out 900 strikes with drones”, the Ministry added.
In a post on X, President Zelensky said on April 20 that Ukraine is “documenting every Russian violation of its self-declared commitment to a full ceasefire for the Easter period and are prepared to provide the necessary information to our partners”.
“Either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favourable PR coverage,” the Ukrainian President added.
–IANS
int/khz
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