Ukraine, Russia renew drone strikes after Easter truce

Ukraine and Russia renewed overnight drone strikes, after the end of a 32-hour Orthodox Easter truce marred by accusations of mass violations, both countries said.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 98 drones, adding that its air defence units had downed 87 of them.

An infrastructure facility was hit in the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian authorities said, adding that information about casualties was being clarified.

Russia meanwhile reported that "on April 13, air defence forces on duty intercepted and destroyed 33 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles."

Last week, Russia and Ukraine agreed to observe the ceasefire, which lasted from 4pm (2pm Irish time) on Saturday until the end of the day yesterday.

But as with a similar agreement last year, only relative calm reigned along the 1,200km front line.

The Ukrainian army said it had counted more than 10,000 violations by the Russian army, most of which were front-line skirmishes.

However, it said that "during the declared ceasefire period, no missile strikes, air strikes, or attack drone strikes (of the Shahed/Gerbera type) were recorded."

Russia's defence ministry accused Kyiv of nearly 2,000 breaches of the truce.

"A total of 1,971 ceasefire violations by units of the Ukrainian armed forces were recorded between 4:00pm Moscow time on 12 April and 8:00 am on 12 April," the ministry said on the state-pushed MAX messenger service.

Ukraine had fired 258 times using artillery or tanks, carried out 1,329 FPV drone strikes and dropped "various types of munitions" on 375 occasions, notably via drones, Russia said.

Russia also accused the Ukrainian military of launching "three nighttime attacks" against Russian positions and also "four attempts to advance" along the frontline, adding that it had thwarted each one.

Mr Zelensky had called for a longer ceasefire in his evening address Saturday, saying Ukraine had put the proposal to Russia.

But in comments aired yesterday, the Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected any extension unless the Ukrainian leader accepted Russia's "well-known" terms.

"Until Zelensky musters the courage to assume this responsibility, the special military operation will continue after the truce expires," Mr Peskov added, referring to the war in Ukraine.

In a sign the truce had some impact, the Ukrainian army said it had recorded no long range Shahed drone attacks, guided aerial bombings or missile strikes.

Ukraine has had to deal with barrages of hundreds of Russian drones on a near-nightly basis, prompting retaliation from Ukraine.

In northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Lieutenant Colonel Vasyl Kobziak said yesterday morning that things were "rather calm" in his sector.

While the 32-year-old officer said the truce had not been "fully" observed, the lull had allowed his soldiers of the 33rd Mechanised Brigade to attend an Easter Sunday mass outside in the freezing forest chill.

"Our comrades have the chance, as you can see, to have their Easter baskets blessed and to feel the warmth and joy of this holiday," he said, referring to the religious tradition of priests blessing food and eggs.

In Russia's Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, Governor Alexander Khinshtein also accused Ukraine of breaking the ceasefire by attacking a petrol station in the town of Lgov with a drone, injuring three people, including a baby.

Recent months have seen several rounds of US-brokered negotiations fail to bring the warring parties closer to an agreement to stop the fighting, triggered by Russia's February 2022 invasion.

The process has stalled further since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East, with Washington's attention having shifted towards Iran.

But even before the Iran war, progress towards a peace deal in Ukraine had been slow due to differences over the issue of territory.

Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along the current frontlines.

But Russia has rejected this, saying it wants the whole of the Donetsk region despite it being partly controlled by Ukraine - a demand Kyiv says is unacceptable.

The war has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes, making it Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Russia, whose battlefield advances have slowed since last year, has paid a high price in manpower for relatively small territorial gains.

Russia occupies just over 19% of Ukraine, most of which was seized during the first weeks of the conflict.