The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that, according to its best commander, the Russian artillery fire did not allow Kremlin despite the proclamation of an Easter fire fire.
“According to the reports of the Commander-in chief, the Russian attack operations report in several sectors on the front, and the Russian artillery fire did not subside,” wrote Zelenskyy on the social media platform X.
“Therefore there is no trust in words from Moscow.”
He remembered that Russia had rejected a 30-day armistice from the USA last month and said that Ukraine would act accordingly if Moscow agreed to “participate in a format of full and unconditional silence.
“If a complete ceasefire really comes close, Ukraine suggests expanding it beyond Easter Day from April 20,” wrote Zelenskyy.
US President Donald Trump says that the United States could make a passport to convey peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, unless progress will occur soon, but he hopes that it will not happen. Russia has several ceasefire conditions that refuse to meet Ukraine.
Citing humanitarian reasons, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine from Saturday.
According to Kremlin, the ceasefire begins on Saturday at 6 p.m. Moscow time (11 a.m. et) and ends at midnight after Easter Sunday.
“We assume that the Ukrainian team will follow our example. At the same time, our troops must be willing to ward off possible violations of the ceasefire and the provocations of the enemy, which their aggressive actions have,” said Putin at a meeting with the general staff of the Valery Gerasimov general staff in a video shared by the Kremlin Press Service.
Hundreds of prisoners of war exchanged
The two sides exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war on Saturday. The Ministry of Defense in Russia said that 246 Russian service members were controlled by Kyiv and that “as the gesture of the Goodwills” 31 wounded Ukrainian prisoners of war were transferred in an exchange for 15 wounded Russian soldiers who urgently needed medical care.
Zelenskyy said that 277 Ukrainian “warriors” returned home from Russian captivity.
Both sides thanked the United Arab Emirates for their mediation.
Putin’s ceasefire announcement came after US President Donald Trump said on Friday that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were “head” and insisted that no side “plays” in his advance of ending the Three Years’ War.
Shortly after Foreign Minister Marco Rubio had warned that the United States could “continue” to try to secure a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine if there were no progress in the coming days after the struggles had not ended.
In January 2023, Putin ordered his armed forces in Ukraine to observe a one-sided, 36-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas. Zelenskyy had released it to play for time to prepare additional attacks.
Russia is struggling to recapture the entire Cursing region
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that its armed forces pushed the Ukrainian troops from the village of Oleshya, one of its last remaining pedestrian in the Russian region of Kursk, in which the Ukrainians organized a surprise in the past year.
Gerasimov said on Saturday in a report to Putin, quoted by the Russian state media that Russia had recaptured almost the entire territory of the Ukrainian armed forces.
“The main part of the territory of the region in which the invasion took place has now been liberated. This is 1,260 square kilometers, 99.5 percent,” said Gerasimov.
Zelenskyy wrote about X that the Ukrainian armed forces “continue their activities on the territory of the Kursk region and hold their positions”.
The Associated Press was unable to immediately review Russia’s claim. Russian and North Korean soldiers have deprived Kyiv almost an important negotiation chip due to most of the region.
According to the Russian news agency TAS, Russia is still fighting to get the Ukrainian armed forces out of the village of Gornal, about 11 kilometers south of Oleshnya.
“The Russian military has not yet pushed the Ukrainian armed out of Gornal … to completely free the Kursk region. In the settlement, fierce fighting is being carried out,” the agency reported citing Russian security authorities.
In other developments, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia had fired 87 exploding drones and decoys overnight until Saturday until Saturday. It is said that 33 of them have intercepted and another 36 lost, probably disrupted electronically.
Russian attacks damaged agricultural companies in the ODEA region and triggered fire in the Sumy region overnight, the state emergency service of Ukraine said on Saturday. Fire was contained and no victims were reported.
In the meantime, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that its air defense systems have shot down two Ukrainian drones overnight to Saturday.
