Russia Resumes Ukraine Fight
Russia Resumes Ukraine Fight military operations after the expiration of an Easter truce announced by President Vladimir Putin that each side accused the other of violating.
The 30-hour ceasefire ordered by Putin has expired, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday on its Telegram channel. Putin later said in televised comments that he’s willing to consider a proposal by Kyiv to avoid strikes on civilian targets and is open to bilateral talks with Ukraine on the issue.
The Russian president ordered the pause in hostilities during a televised meeting on Saturday with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, saying it was a humanitarian gesture at the holiday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the announcement as a Kremlin publicity stunt and called on Russia to accept a 30-day truce instead.
On Sunday, both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire though neither reported the kind of missile attacks or large-scale drone swarms that have taken place regularly since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine that’s now in its fourth year. Russia acknowledged that “during the daytime, the intensity of fire and combat operations” by Ukraine along the front line had significantly reduced, according to the state-run Tass news service.
While he has offered brief halts to the fighting in the past, notably a proposal to cease hostilities during the Orthodox Christmas period in 2023, Putin has made clear that he won’t agree to a full truce until there is progress toward a final peace deal that meets Russia’s war demands and an end to weapons deliveries to Kyiv by Ukraine’s allies.
US President Donald Trump on Friday signaled he could walk way from White House efforts to broker a deal to end the war unless agreement is reached soon, as Russia said a one-month pause on targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure had ended. Russia has refused to join a moratorium on attacks in the Black Sea unless it gets concessions on easing sanctions against a key state bank.
The Kremlin on Monday welcomed the Trump administration’s stance ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine.
“Of course, we’re satisfied about this,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, but responded cautiously when asked about reports the US president is willing to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea in his bid for a ceasefire deal.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.