Ukrainian believers gather to mark Easter near the Church of the Archangel Saint Michael in the Museum of Folk Architecture and Ethnography in Pyrohovo village near Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday. A truce had been announced for the Easter holiday, during which both sides accused the other of violations. Photo by Sergey Dollzhenko/EPA
Russia committed nearly 11,000 violations of the Orthodox Easter cease-fire, Ukraine said Monday, while Russia accused Ukraine of committing nearly 2,000 violations.
The cease-fire was to be respected from 4 p.m. MST Saturday through the end of Sunday in respect for the significant religious holiday in both countries.
But during the period when arms were to cool, each side reported violations committed by the other.
According to a Monday morning statement, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tallied 10,721 cease-fire violations by the Kremlin in the form of more than 9,000 drone strikes, nearly 1,600 artillery shells fired, and 119 troop assaults across the country.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that it had counted 1,971 violations by Ukraine.
At least three Ukrainians, all medics, were injured in a Russian drone strike on Sumy Oblast, according to military administration officials. Russia said two Ukrainian drones targeting Kursk and Belgorod regions wounded “civilians, including one child.”
The Ukrainian military said it had killed at least 960 Russian soldiers and destroyed two tanks, two armored combat vehicles, 44 artillery systems and more than 1,500 drones.
The truce was separately announced Thursday.
On Friday, a day before it was to begin, a prisoner-of-war swap was conducted, involving 175 service members and seven civilians from each side.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its service members were taken to Belarus where they were receiving psychological and medical assistance.
Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement that nearly all Ukrainian soldiers freed had been held in Russian captivity since 2022, the year the war began, and more than half were capture while defending the city of Mariupol.
The youngest person was 22 years old and the oldest was 63, it said.
Russia and Ukraine have previously agreed to Easter cease-fires. Last Easter, each side accused the other of committing violations.
Last week, ahead of the cease-fire, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine warned that his forces will remain ready and will only attack if attacked first.
“We all understand who we are dealing with,” he said in a statement.
“Ukraine will adhere to the cease-fire and respond strictly in kind. The absence of Russian strikes in the air, on land and at sea will mean no response from our side.”
