How an expert explains Putin's Easter truce, which Ukraine says has been violated 11,000 times
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army claims that Russian forces have violated the ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of Orthodox Easter 10,721 times in the 32 hours from 4pm on Saturday until the end of the day on Sunday.
Stephen Hall, assistant professor of Russian and post-Soviet politics at the University of Bath, England, believes that the Russian leader announced this so-called ceasefire to maintain control of the narrative of the war in Ukraine and to present himself as a pacifist.
“It looks good for Donald Trump that Putin still wants peace, that he's desperate to try to find peace and all these processes. It's also a way to control the narrative, after completely ignoring Zelenski,” Hall told the Kyiv Independent.
Vladimir Putin had announced the truce on April 9, after initially rejecting a similar proposal made by Kiev at the end of March. In response, Ukraine said it would respect the ceasefire but would respond if it was violated.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces violated the ceasefire 469 times in the first six hours alone.
“It may also be a way to maintain his soft power ties, as they were, with the traditionalists, because it is Easter – an important date for Christendom – and Putin is, of course, the most Christian man in the world,” Stephen Hall added wryly.
He believes that Russia's recent initiative does not signal a quest for peace, but rather “smoke and mirrors” to maintain control of the narrative, which he believes the Kremlin is “very good at”.
Over 9,000 Russian kamikaze drone attacks, Ukraine accuses
The Ukrainian military's general staff said there were no Russian missile, aviation or long-range drone attacks such as those with Shahed during the ceasefire period, but Moscow's forces carried out 1,567 artillery strikes, 119 assault actions and 9,035 short-range kamikaze drone attacks.
Of the drone attacks, 2,205 involved Italmas, Lancet and Molniya systems, while 6,830 were carried out by FPV drones, the Ukrainian military also notes.
In the last day alone, according to Ukrainian forces, 107 clashes were recorded along the front line.
The heaviest fighting continued in the direction of Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian forces say they repulsed 28 Russian assaults.
Russian authorities have in turn accused Ukraine of violating the ceasefire, claiming that Ukrainian drones struck targets in Russia's Kursk and Belgorod regions, injuring five people.
