Russia violated Vladimir Putin’s self-declared truce thousands of times, says Ukrainian president, as air raids resume on Easter Monday. What we know on day 1,153

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Russia to genuinely halt drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure for at least 30 days . The Ukrainian president accused his Russian counterpart of a “PR” exercise as Vladimir Putin unilaterally called an Easter ceasefire starting on Saturday evening only for it to be violated by Russia’s military thousands of times. Though the ceasefire was declared only by Russia, the Kremlin also accused Ukraine of violations.

Citing a report from Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Zelenskyy said Russia was still using heavy weapons and since 10am on Sunday an increase in Russian shelling had been observed. “However, there were no air raid alerts today [Sunday],” Zelenskyy added, going on to propose a halt to “any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days … 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 .”

Ukrainian soldiers told the Agence France-Presse news agency that they had noticed a lull. A drone unit commander said Russia’s activity had “significantly decreased both in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions … Several assaults were recorded, but those were solitary incidents involving small groups. Fewer guys [soldiers] will die today.” Another soldier, Sergiy, told AFP in a message that “[Russian] artillery is not working. It is quiet compared to a regular day ”. AFP journalists monitoring in eastern Ukraine heard fewer explosions than usual and saw no smoke on the horizon.

Other Ukrainian troops told the Guardian’s Kyiv-based Luke Harding of continued Russian attacks well after they were supposed to have been suspended . “For us, it’s just another day of war – with shelling from various types of weapons and even one attempt to assault our positions,” Denys Bobkov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s 37th separate marine brigade, said in a message from the front. Zelenskyy posted: “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 favourable PR coverage.”

As the clock ticked past midnight into Monday , and Putin’s claimed Easter truce expired, Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian air force had just issued alerts for Russian missile and drone strikes on east and south-east regions of Ukraine . Kyiv’s forces were instructed to mirror Russian army actions, Zelenskyy said. “We will respond to silence with silence, our strikes will be to protect against Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy posted.

Donald Trump, the US president, used the situation to claim that a breakthrough was within a few days’ reach. “Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week,” he posted on Sunday. “Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a fortune.” The White House did not immediately give any further details on the president’s announcement. On Friday, Trump said he would end US peace efforts unless the two sides showed movement.