Ukrainian forces are reporting Russian drone attacks overnight just hours after the end of the 30-hour “Easter Armistice” declared by Moscow.
The Ukrainian Air Force has issued RAID alerts for the Kyiv region and for the Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia.
In the southern city of Mikolife, Mayor Olexandr Senkevich said “we heard an explosion.” It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties or not.
Russian troops have not commented on the reported attacks. The ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin expired at Sunday Moscow Time (21:00 GMT). Both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
Earlier on Monday, residents of several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kiev, were prompted by local authorities to quickly go to nearby shelters due to the threat of drone strikes.
The Ukrainian Air Force also reported “rocket dangers” in the central region, saying that Russian aviation is “active in northeastern and east directions.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had not given an order to extend it hours before the armistice expired, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.
The BBC has not independently confirmed claims by Ukraine and Russia.
President Donald Trump – calling for an end to the war – said at the end of Sunday that “Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week.” He gave no further details.
Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Southern Crimea Peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people (the majority of their soldiers) have been killed or injured on all sides since 2022.
Last month, Moscow came up with a long list of conditions in response to a complete and unconditional ceasefire agreed by the US and Ukraine.
On Saturday, President Putin said all hostilities will end from 18:00 Moscow time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday until midnight on Sunday. Kiev said that he would comply with that as well.
“During this period, I will order all military actions to be stopped,” Putin said in his announcement.
“We assume that the Ukrainian side follows our example, and at the same time our troops must be ready to fight back any possible ceasefire and provocation from the enemy.
However, Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelensky said there was a total of 1,882 cases of Russian artillery fire on Sunday, according to a report from the commander of Ukrainian Oleksandr Silsky’s military.
The president said the heaviest artillery fire and attacks were found in eastern Ukraine, near the besieged city of Pokrovsk, the Donetsk region’s main logistics hub.
“The nature of Ukraine’s actions will continue to be reflected. We will respond to silence. Our strike is to protect against Russian strikes,” Zelensky said.
Earlier on Sunday, he said, “There were no air raid alerts today.”
He proposed “we proposed to stop the strike using long-range drones and missiles from civilian infrastructure for at least 30 days with the possibility of extension.”
Zelensky also said Putin’s declaration of an armistice was equivalent to a “PR” exercise, and his words were “empty.” He accused the Kremlin of trying to create a “general impression of a ceasefire.”
“This Easter clearly demonstrated that Russia is the sole source of this war and why it is being dragged over,” the president said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that its troops “have strictly observed the ceasefire.”
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova has accused Ukraine of using US-backed Himah missiles during the ceasefire.
The announcement of the surprise ceasefire comes shortly after Trump threatened to “take a pass” by further mediating Russia-Ukrain peace talks.
However, a State Department spokesman said on Sunday that Washington is “committed to achieving a full and comprehensive ceasefire.”
“It’s been a long time since we stopped death and destruction and ended this war,” the spokesman added.
