Russia claims that Ukraine has violated an agreed-upon Easter truce over 1,300 times. Russian positions have been attacked numerous times by Kiev’s forces since the ceasefire began, the Defense Ministry stated.
During a phone call on March 18th, Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted his United States counterpart Donald Trump’s proposal to introduce a 30-day pause on targeting energy facilities. Ukraine’s ruler, Volodymyr Zelensky, also said at the time that his country would abide by the truce. However, the Russian Defense Ministry reported daily violations by Ukraine of the partial ceasefire, which expired last week.
According to a report by RT, Putin said earlier that the pause in hostilities would be in effect from 6:00 pm Moscow time on Saturday and last until midnight on Monday. He instructed the country’s military to stay on high alert and be ready “to respond to any violations or provocations.” Zelensky answered a few hours later that Kiev’s forces “will act in a reciprocal way.”
“The Ukrainian units fired 444 times from cannons and mortars at the positions of our troops, [and] carried out 900 strikes with quadcopter drones,” the ministry said. Kiev’s troops also used 48 plane-type UAVs against the Russian military, including one in Crimea, the statement read.
There were 12 artillery attacks, 33 UAV strikes, and seven munition drops in the border areas of Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions in western Russia, which resulted in “civilian casualties and injuries, as well as damage to civilian facilities,” according to the statement. –RT
“In accordance with the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces [President Vladimir Putin], all [Russian military] groupings in the area of the special military operation strictly observed the ceasefire regime… and remained at previously occupied lines and positions,” the ministry said.
“I do not remember a single ceasefire that would be successful and long-term, so I do not yet see any serious grounds to say that Ukraine is capable of doing this [abide by a truce],” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large overseeing investigations of war crimes by Kiev, Rodion Miroshnik, said. He stressed that Kiev is not able to stop attacking and attempt to end the war during appearances on Soloviev LIVE TV on Sunday.
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