Zelenskyy accuses Russia of creating an ‘impression’ of a ceasefire as shelling on Ukraine continues
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of creating a mere “impression” of a ceasefire as Moscow reportedly continued shelling areas of Ukraine overnight.
In a televised meeting with his commander-in-chief on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the temporary ceasefire would last from 6pm Moscow time (4pm BST) on Saturday until midnight (10pm BST) on Sunday.
Putin claimed he had ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” along the frontline during this window for “humanitarian reasons”.
But Zelenskyy said there had been hundreds of instances of shelling on Saturday evening. Early on Sunday, Ukrainian forces reported 59 instances of shelling and five assault attempts along the frontline, he said.
In a post on X, the Ukrainian president wrote:
Overall, as of Easter morning, we can state that the Russian army is attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire, while in some areas still continuing isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine. Russia must fully comply with the conditions of the ceasefire.
Ukraine’s proposal to implement and extend the ceasefire for 30 days after midnight tonight remains on the table. We will act in accordance with the actual situation on the ground.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
Photograph: Ukrainian Armed Forces/Reuters
In some other developments:
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On Saturday, Ukraine and Russia said they had each returned 246 soldiers being held as prisoners of war, in a swap mediated by the UAE. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the total number of returned POWs now stood at 4,552. The UAE’s foreign ministry said 31 injured Ukrainians and 15 wounded Russians were also exchanged.
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Moscow’s troops have driven out Ukrainian forces from nearly all of the Kursk region, Russia’s chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has said. “The bulk of the area where the invasion took place has now been cleared,” Gerasimov told Putin in a televised meeting. “It’s 1,260 sq km, 99.5%.” The RIA state news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Saturday that Russian troops recaptured the village of Oleshnya in Kursk.
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Russian troops are “solidifying their presence” in the village of Kalynove in the Donetsk region, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the DeepState military blog. The publication reports, sourcing DeepState, that Russian forces are deploying infantry and establishing logistical routes and communication lines in Kalynove.
Key events
Zelenskyy says Russia has intensified shelling and use of drones despite ceasefire
In a new post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched 26 assaults from midnight up until midday local time (0900 GMT).
Citing a battlefield update from Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s military chief, Zelenskky noted an increase in Russian shelling and the use of kamikaze drones.
“The most active Russian operations this morning have been carried out in the Pokrovsk and Siversk directions,” he wrote in the social media post.
“In these and several other areas of the frontline, Russia continues to use heavy weaponry.”
Zelenskyy added:
We are documenting every Russian violation of its self-declared commitment to a full ceasefire for the Easter period and are prepared to provide the necessary information to our partners.
In practice, either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favorable PR coverage. It’s a good thing, at least, that there were no air raid sirens.
My colleagues Luke Harding and Andrew Roth have filed this report on the US’s suggestion it could abandon its efforts to broker a permanent ceasefire in Ukraine:
Donald Trump has said the US is ready to “take a pass” on brokering a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine unless a settlement is reached “very shortly”.
“Now if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘You’re foolish. You’re fools. You’re horrible people’ – and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump told reporters in Washington. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”
Trump declined to give a “specific number of days” for when the US would stop trying to negotiate a truce. “But quickly. We want to get it done.”
Asked whether he was being “played” by Putin, Trump said: “Nobody’s playing me, I’m trying to help.”
Trump’s comments came after the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio said the US was ready to abandon its efforts “within days”.
Speaking in Paris on Friday after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders, Rubio said Trump was still interested in a deal. But he added that the US president had many other priorities around the world and was willing to “move on” unless there were signs of progress.
“It is not our war. We didn’t start it,” Rubio said, adding that if a deal were not possible – with both sides still far apart – the US president was “probably at a point where he’s going to say, well, we’re done”. Trump felt “very strongly” about this, he said.
You can read the full story here:
As a reminder, Vladimir Putin offered no details on how the so-called Easter Truce – which he said would last from 18:00 Moscow time (16:00 BST) on Saturday until midnight on Sunday in Moscow – would be monitored or whether it would cover airstrikes or ongoing ground battles that rage around the clock.
Russia says Ukraine broke ‘Easter ceasefire’ over a thousand times
Russia’s defence ministry reportedly said that Ukraine had broken the Easter ceasefire declared by Vladmir Putin on Saturday more than a thousand times.
The ministry said Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times while it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, Interfax said.
We have not yet been able to independently verify these claims, which have been reported by Russian news agencies.
In the open letter, Andrii Melnyk outlined five steps Friedrich Merz should take during his first 100 days in office. He wants Merz, whose conservative CDU/CSU alliance won February’s federal election, to:
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Adopt a coalition resolution on financing arms deliveries to Ukraine amounting to at least 0.5 percent of GDP (€21.5bn per year). The funding should go toward the production of advanced weapons in both Germany and Ukraine, he said.
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Ensure the same 0.5% commitment to be adopted at the EU and G7 levels, excluding the US.
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Announce the immediate delivery of 150 Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine on 6 May and implement it swiftly.
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Push the governing coalition to decide to transfer 30% of the available German fighter jets and helicopters – including Eurofighters and Tornados – from the air force’s inventory to Ukraine.
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Show strong leadership in helping Ukraine resist Russian aggression, including adopting “concrete security guarantees” and ensuring the prospect of Ukraine’s accession to Nato “soon becomes a reality” (despite opposition from the Trump administration)
Ukrainian diplomat says the ‘fate of Europe’ depends on incoming German chancellor’s success
Germany has been one of Ukraine’s main military backers, granting roughly €7.1bn (£6bn; $8bn) in military assistance in 2024 alone.
But, fearing an escalation of the conflict, former German chancellor Olaf Scholz did not supply Taurus missiles, which have a range of around 500km (300 miles), despite Kyiv’s repeated requests.
In an unusual move, Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Melnyk has written an open letter to the prospective German chancellor Friedrich Merz, calling on him to fulfill his campaign promise and deliver the urgently needed 150 Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Writing in the the German newspaper Die Welt, Melnyk, who served as Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany from December 2014 to October 2022 and is now Ukraine’s ambassador to Brazil, said:
Germany, of all places, has a crucial role to play in stopping the killings and bringing about a just peace.
Not only the future of the Federal Republic depends on your success as Chancellor, but also the fate of Ukraine – and all of Europe. That may sound pathetic, but it’s true.
Commenting on the Taurus missiles, he added:
Announce the immediate delivery of 150 Taurus cruise missiles in the Bundestag on May 6th and implement it swiftly. This election promise must be fulfilled, despite the expected resistance from the SPD.
This requires no “coordination with partners” or ultimatums to Putin. These infernal weapons should simply be delivered, without any ifs, ands, or buts, to stop the creeping Russian advance and fundamentally change the current dynamic of war.
Several explosions reported in Russian-controlled Donetsk
Several blasts ripped through Russian-controlled Donetsk in eastern Ukraine this morning, the Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported.
A source in the local “operative services” told the news agency that the Ukrainian armed forces had “delivered a strike” in the Budennovsky district of the city.
“The strike has been (registered) near the Elevatornaya (Street). Details are being determined,” the source said. We have not yet been able to independently verify these claims.
The reports come a day after Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” in Ukraine for a 30-hour truce, to which Kyiv said it would also adhere.
However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy subsequently said that Russian artillery fire had not stopped and its attempt to seize territory continued.
Luke Harding, a Guardian foreign correspondent, writes that the ceasefire declaration came amid reports that the White House was ready to recognise Russian control of Crimea as part of a broad US proposal to end the war in Ukraine.
Here is an extract from his piece:
According to sources cited by Bloomberg, the US may be willing to give Putin a strategic victory and to accept Russian control over the peninsula. In 2014, Russian special forces seized Crimea, which Putin annexed after a sham referendum.
US diplomatic recognition would violate the UN charter and the post-1945 consensus that countries cannot seize territory by force. Most states, including the UK, have refused to recognise Russia’s illegal takeover.
The possible concession to Moscow from the White House is likely to provoke criticism from the US’s one-time European allies and a furious backlash in Ukraine. It comes as Donald Trump said on Friday the US may “move on” if no peace deal can be agreed…
Talks over a settlement are due to continue this week in London. Leaks suggest the US is pushing for a Kremlin-friendly agreement that would see Russia keep occupied areas in the south and east of Ukraine, as well as Crimea.
It is also considering lifting sanctions on Moscow and other “carrots”, the New York Post reported. By contrast, Trump has heaped pressure on Ukraine, in effect cutting off military assistance and demanding a share of the country’s lucrative mineral wealth.
Zelenskyy accuses Russia of creating an ‘impression’ of a ceasefire as shelling on Ukraine continues
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of creating a mere “impression” of a ceasefire as Moscow reportedly continued shelling areas of Ukraine overnight.
In a televised meeting with his commander-in-chief on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the temporary ceasefire would last from 6pm Moscow time (4pm BST) on Saturday until midnight (10pm BST) on Sunday.
Putin claimed he had ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” along the frontline during this window for “humanitarian reasons”.
But Zelenskyy said there had been hundreds of instances of shelling on Saturday evening. Early on Sunday, Ukrainian forces reported 59 instances of shelling and five assault attempts along the frontline, he said.
In a post on X, the Ukrainian president wrote:
Overall, as of Easter morning, we can state that the Russian army is attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire, while in some areas still continuing isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine. Russia must fully comply with the conditions of the ceasefire.
Ukraine’s proposal to implement and extend the ceasefire for 30 days after midnight tonight remains on the table. We will act in accordance with the actual situation on the ground.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
Photograph: Ukrainian Armed Forces/Reuters
In some other developments:
-
On Saturday, Ukraine and Russia said they had each returned 246 soldiers being held as prisoners of war, in a swap mediated by the UAE. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the total number of returned POWs now stood at 4,552. The UAE’s foreign ministry said 31 injured Ukrainians and 15 wounded Russians were also exchanged.
-
Moscow’s troops have driven out Ukrainian forces from nearly all of the Kursk region, Russia’s chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has said. “The bulk of the area where the invasion took place has now been cleared,” Gerasimov told Putin in a televised meeting. “It’s 1,260 sq km, 99.5%.” The RIA state news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Saturday that Russian troops recaptured the village of Oleshnya in Kursk.
-
Russian troops are “solidifying their presence” in the village of Kalynove in the Donetsk region, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the DeepState military blog. The publication reports, sourcing DeepState, that Russian forces are deploying infantry and establishing logistical routes and communication lines in Kalynove.