Ukraine, Russia trade accusations of violating Easter cease-fire

April 21 (UPI) -- Ukraine and Russia traded accusations Sunday of violating a one-day Easter truce, which was by Moscow only a day prior and has since expired.

President Vladimir Putin declared the 30-hour Easter Truce on Saturday, stating it would run through Sunday night.

However, as Sunday ended, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine accused Russia on social media of violating the truce nearly 3,000 times.

Early Sunday, he announced that Kyiv was documenting "every Russian violation of its self-declared commitment to a full cease-fire" while accusing Moscow of only pursuing a halt to the fighting for public relations reasons.

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"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," he said.

He later added that Ukraine's actions would remain "symmetrical."

"Cease-fire will be met with cease-fire and Russian strikes will be met with our own in defense," he said early Monday.

"Actions always speak louder than words."

Russia -- which began the war in February 2022 with a full-scale invasion of its neighbor -- also accused Ukraine of violating the cease-fire.

Its Ministry of Defense stated on Telegram that its forces were "strictly observing the state of cease-fire" since it began Saturday evening, but that during the night, Ukraine violated the halt in fighting more than 1,000 times.

"As a result, enemy attacks caused deaths and injuries among the civilian population," the ministry said in a post.

The accusations were traded as Zelensky pushes for the cease-fire to be extended for 30 days or, at least, to end long-range drones and missile strikes on civilian infrastructure for that period of time.

"If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it intends to continue doing only those things which destroy human lives and prolong the war," Zelensky said.