Donald Trump has stated he hopes Russia and Ukraine “will make a deal this week” as Vladimir Putin’s “Easter truce” expired, with the 2 international locations blaming one another for breaking it.
The Russian chief stated he had ordered his forces to cease all navy exercise alongside the frontline for 30 hours from 6pm on Saturday (4pm UK time) till midnight on Sunday (10pm UK time).
US President Donald Trump wrote on his Fact Social platform that “hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week” and each will then “start to do big business” with the US.
However on Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the Russian military had “violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2,000 times” in the course of the day.
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Mr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “failing” to “uphold its own promise of ceasefire” and likewise wrote on X: “Either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favourable PR coverage.”
Mr Zelenskyy proposed that Russia “cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days, with the possibility of extension”.
And he added that if Russia doesn’t conform to such a step “it will be proof that it intends to continue doing only those things which destroy human lives and prolong the war”.
He insisted that the Ukrainian military was “acting – and will continue to act – in a fully symmetrical manner” and this Easter has “clearly demonstrated that the only source of this war, and the reason it drags on, is Russia”.
“We are ready to move toward peace and a full, unconditional, and honest ceasefire that could last for at least 30 days – but there has been no response from Russia on that so far.”
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What has Moscow stated?
Russia’s defence ministry stated Ukraine had damaged the ceasefire greater than 1,000 instances, damaging infrastructure and inflicting civilian deaths.
In response to the ministry, Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 instances whereas there had been greater than 900 Ukrainian drone assaults, together with on Crimea and the Russian border areas of the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod areas.
“As a result, there are deaths and injuries among the civilian population, as well as damage to civilian facilities,” the ministry stated.
The Kremlin stated there was no order for the ceasefire to be prolonged.
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Mr Trump and his secretary of state Marco Rubio warned on Friday that the US will stroll away from efforts to dealer a peace deal except there are clear indicators of progress quickly.
The US president stated negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have been “coming to a head” and he insisted that neither aspect is “playing” him in his push to finish the grinding three-year warfare.
Final month, Ukraine accepted Mr Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce.
However Mr Putin refused to again a full 30-day ceasefire, saying essential problems with verification had not been sorted out. He stated he would agree to not goal Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
Nonetheless, each side have accused one another of breaking the moratorium on assaults on power targets and at sea.