Ukraine, Russia renew drone strikes after Easter truce

Ukraine and Russia renewed overnight drone strikes on Monday, 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, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to observe the ceasefire, which lasted from 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Saturday until the end of the day on Sunday.

But as with a similar agreement last year, only relative calm reigned along the 1,200-kilometre (745-mile) 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.

AFP

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