Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of countless violations of one-day Easter ceasefire

By Guy Faulconbridge and Pavel Polityuk

MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) -Russia and Ukraine accused each other of thousands of attacks that violated the one-day Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, with the Kremlin saying there was no order to extend the pause in frontline fighting.

Washington said it would welcome an extension of the truce, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated several times Ukraine's willingness to pause strikes for 30 days in the war.

But Putin, who sent thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and who ordered on Saturday the halt in all military activity along the front line until midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT) on Sunday, did not give orders to extend it.

"There were no other commands," Russia's TASS state news agency cited Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying when asked whether the ceasefire could be prolonged.

While there were no air raid alerts in Ukraine on Sunday, soon after midnight on Monday the Ukrainian air force issued alerts for east and southeast regions of the country, warning of missile and drone strikes.

Ukrainian forces reported nearly 3,000 violations of Russia's own ceasefire vow, Zelenskiy said early on Monday, adding that Kyiv forces were instructed to mirror Russian army's actions.

"We will respond to silence with silence, our strikes will be to protect against Russian strikes," Zelenskiy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

The largest number of Russian shelling and assault operations took place along the frontline part near the embattled eastern town of Pokrovsk, Zelenskiy said.

Late on Sunday, Zelenskiy said the absence of air raid alerts suggested a "format of ceasefire that has been achieved," and he proposed that Russia abandon drone and missile strikes on civilian targets for at least 30 days.

If Russia does not agree, it will be proof that it intends to continue doing only those things that destroy human lives and prolong the war, Zelenskiy added.

In a separate Easter video message, Zelenskiy urged Ukrainians not to give up hope that peace will one day return.

"We know what we are defending," said Zelenskiy, wearing a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt and standing in front of Saint Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv. "We know what we are fighting for."

Russia's Defence Ministry said Ukraine had broken the ceasefire more than 1,000 times, damaging infrastructure and causing civilian deaths.

The ministry said Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times and said it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, including on Crimea and the Russian border areas of the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions.

"As a result, there are deaths and injuries among the civilian population, as well as damage to civilian facilities," the ministry said.

Reuters was unable to immediately verify the battlefield reports.

The apparent failure to observe even an Easter ceasefire shows how hard it will be for U.S. President Donald Trump to clinch a lasting peace deal. The president still struck an optimistic note Sunday, saying that "hopefully" the two sides would make a deal "this week" to end the conflict.

On Friday, Trump and his secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said the U.S. would walk away from peace efforts unless there are clear signs of progress soon.

TRUMP'S PEACE PUSH

Last month, after Ukraine accepted Trump's proposal for a 30-day truce, Putin said crucial issues of verification had not been sorted out. Both Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a moratorium on attacks on energy targets and at sea, which each accuses the other of breaking.

Trump has pitched any end to the fighting as a precursor to both countries doing "BIG BUSINESS" with the United States, he said Sunday, saying that such deals would earn both nations "a fortune."

Washington and Kyiv are currently negotiating a minerals deal that is expected to be finalized in the next week, Ukrainian officials have said, while American officials are looking at ways to ease sanctions on Russia's energy sector if Moscow agrees to end the war, Reuters has previously reported.

Announcing the ceasefire before heading to an Orthodox Easter service, Putin said the truce would show whether or not Ukraine was ready or able to implement peace. Easter fell on the same day this year for Orthodox and Western churches

Ukraine's military said that despite the ceasefire violations, activity on the front line had decreased. Some Russian military bloggers also said frontline activity had declined substantially.

But there was little such optimism from Ukrainian soldiers who spoke to Reuters on Sunday.

"There is no indication of a ceasefire," said Dmytro, 24, from 93rd Kholodnyi Yar separate mechanised brigade.

Serhii, 22, a soldier from the same brigade, said the ceasefire "was announced only to show to the world as if they are making some steps, concessions for us. But in reality, as we can see at the front line, nothing has changed. I think it is blatant lie as it always was."

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv and Guy Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; additional reporting by Anatolii Stepanov in Donetsk regionEditing by William Mallard, Helen Popper, Giles Elgood and Leslie Adler)