As of now, Russia has violated the ceasefire more than 2,000 times.
This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his evening address.
“As of this hour, the Russian army has violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2,000 times since the beginning of the day. There have already been 67 Russian assaults against our positions in various directions, most of them in Pokrovsk. 1,355 Russian attacks, 713 of which involved heavy weapons, 673 involved the use of FPV by Russians,” the President said.
He noted that there were violations in virtually all major frontline areas.
“It took Russia almost the whole day to respond to our Ukrainian proposal of complete silence, starting now, from Easter, and for 30 days. However, there were no air raids today. So, this is the format of silence that has been achieved – and is the easiest to continue,” Zelenskyy said.
He also said that Ukraine proposes abandoning any strikes by long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for at least 30 days, with the possibility of extension.
“If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it wants to continue to do nothing but destroy people’s lives and prolong the war,” Zelenskyy added.
30-hour “truce”
- Yesterday afternoon, Russian President Putin announced that his army would allegedly cease fire from 18:00 on 19 April until 00:00 on 21 April, to mark Easter. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready for a full ceasefire for 30 days, not 30 hours. He called for a report from the Commander-in-Chief to find out the state of affairs from the front.
- Later he said that if Russia did cease fire, Ukraine was ready to do so in return – and was ready to continue. But it will respond to every Russian shelling.
- The State Department said the US would welcome a continuation of the ceasefire after the one-day Easter truce. However, the Kremlin has already announced that it intends to resume hostilities at 00:00 on 21 April.