The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Russia on Saturday, April 19, violating the high fire that Vladimir Putin had just announced for Easter and that Ukraine is committed to respecting, which would constitute the most significant rest in the fighting in three years of conflict.
“Guided by humanitarian considerations, the Russian part decrees a Easter truce today, starting at 6 pm (3:00 pm GMT, note of the editor) at midnight between Sunday and Monday (9:00 pm GMT on Sunday). I give the order to stop all hostilities during this period,” said the Russian head of state during a meeting with soldiers that transmit Russian television.
“We assume that the Ukrainian part will follow our example,” he added, while asking the Russian forces to be ready for an “immediate and complete response” in case of “truce violations” or “any aggressive action” by the opposite field.
At the end of the day, Volodymyr Zelensky, however, said in X that “the Russian assaults continued in several sectors of the front”, while an Antialert resonated in kyiv.
“Threat of missiles for the region” of the capital, warned the Ukraine Air Force. The governor of the Kherson region, in southern Ukraine, said at the same time the attacks of Russian drones.
Air attacks, accuse the Ukrainians
“Around 6:00 pm” (3:00 pm GMT), an attack of eight Russian drones set fire to the apartments in a housing tower and, later at night, three drones hit two villages, said Oleksandre Prokoudine, while the Ukrainian Air Force caused alerts for aerial raids in several regions of the East.
In spite of everything, “if Russia is ready to really get involved, Ukraine will do the same actions that reflect those of Russia,” he told the Ukrainian president, proposing “extending the high fire beyond April 20”.
At the same time, he has been very circumspect in terms of the commitments assumed by Russian leaders, launching: “We have no confidence in the words that come from Moscow (…). We know their ability to manipulate too well and we are still ready. The Ukrainian defense forces will respond to any attack.”
“Putin has just made statements about his alleged disposition to a fire.
Questioned by the AFP, Ukrainian soldiers also expressed their extreme distrust against the Russians. “It is impossible to believe in any high fire on the part of these people,” said Dmitri, a 40 -year -old soldier who took a break in Kramorsk, in the east.
Previous attempts of aborted truce
“I think this man (Putin) is evil, a murderer, but he can do it. He could do it to give a little hope or show his humanity. Anyway, of course, we have no confidence. These 30 hours will not lead to anything,” he hit, before concluding that “it is certain that the massacres of our people and will continue.”
Easter, one of the most important in the Christian calendar, which commemorates the resurrection of Christ, is celebrated this year on Sunday, on the same date by Catholics and Orthodox.
Attempts to establish a high fire on this occasion in Ukraine have already taken place twice since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022. In April 2022, a first initiative in this regard, taken by the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, had not materialized due to Russia’s refusal, which had judged that the Uckrainian army could have raised.
The following year, in January 2023, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill urged the two belligerents to interrupt the hostilities for Easter and Russia had decreed a high fire of 36 hours. However, Ukraine had described him as “trap” and the clashes had continued.
The truce ordered on Saturday by Vladimir Putin intervenes while the efforts of the Donald Trump administration to find an exit from the conflict in Ukraine appear on the deadline in recent days.
The Koursk region practically reconquered
Therefore, the US president threatened Friday to withdraw from negotiations due to lack of rapid progress in the separate discussions that his lieutenants have had for several weeks with Kyiv and Moscow.
The same day, the Kremlin had said that the moratorium in the strikes against the energy sites, announced in March for 30 days, but whose implementation remained without being clear, had “expired.” Russia and Ukraine overwhelmed almost daily to rape him.
Donald Trump initially offered a high unconditional and complete fire, whose principle had been accepted by kyiv under the pressure of Washington but dismissed by Vladimir Putin.
Russia also said on Saturday that there was “published” almost all -“99.5%”, of the Russian region of Koursk, objectives in August 2024 of a surprise offensive of the Ukrainian forces.
Such progression would replace the front on the Ukrainian soil again, which would strengthen Russia’s confidence. In Moscow, Evgeniy Pavlov, 58, expressed skepticism with respect to the announced truce. “We must not give a respite to Ukraine. If we insist, it means that we have to go to the end,” he told AFP.
Source: BFM TV
