Ukraine says Russia is continuing attacks after Putin declared an Easter cease-fire

Ukrainian officials and soldiers said Russian forces continued to fire on all fronts, hours after President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced an Easter halt to military attacks on Ukraine if Kyiv agreed to such a truce. 

A day after the Trump administration threatened to walk away from a cease-fire negotiation for Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said that a cease-fire would take place at 6pm Moscow time on Saturday, April 19th.

According to Ukrainian officials, Mr Putin has broke that promise. Ukrainian President Zelensky said fighting continues on several fronts and pushed Putin to “give peace a chance” by extending his surprise truce beyond the 20 April deadline.

After the supposed cease-fire, an exchange of over 200 prisoners of war took place, one of the largest since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. However, Ukrainian civilians aren’t convinced about the supposed truce: one Kyiv resident said she expects missiles to fall tonight, while an MP in the capital called the reported truce “a joke.”

Russia has broken numerous ceasefires since its 2014 covert invasion of eastern Ukraine. Unlike Ukraine, it has refused to implement a 30-day pause in fighting proposed more than a month ago by the Trump administration.

It is likely that Russia will try to spin their violation of the cease-fire as a reaction to what they claim as Ukrainian provocation. No one will be convinced, but it will provide Russia the interference they need to continue their assault on Ukraine.