President Volodymyr Zelensky, after hearing the report from Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated that Russian forces violated the 'Easter ceasefire' 2935 times. He emphasized that Ukraine's response will be 'mirrored' to the actions of the aggressor.
Direct quote from Zelensky: 'The total number of violations by the Russian army of the promised silence today is 2935.'
Details: Zelensky noted that the highest number of shelling and assaults occurred in the Pokrovsk direction.
The President added that 'the Russian promise of complete silence also did not extend to the Kursk direction.'
According to Zelensky, there were a total of 96 Russian assaults, 1882 shellings of Ukrainian positions, including 812 from heavy weaponry, and over 950 instances of Russian FPV drones being used.
Direct quote from Zelensky: 'On this day, Moscow lacked the capacity to respond adequately to the proposal of a complete ceasefire for the next 30 days after Easter, as well as to the proposal to at least maintain silence in the sky regarding civilian infrastructure and refrain from missile and drone attacks.'
The nature of Ukrainian actions will continue to remain mirrored: silence will be met with silence, and our strikes will be in response to Russian attacks. Actions always speak louder than words.
Background: On the evening of April 19, after the report from Oleksandr Syrskyi, Zelensky stated that the Russian 'Easter ceasefire' does not apply to the Kursk and Belgorod regions, and shelling has not ceased in other areas.
Zelensky proposes to Russia to extend the ban on long-range strikes for another 30 days, as no air alerts were recorded during the so-called 'Easter ceasefire' despite numerous violations by the RF at the front.
History:
- On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an 'Easter ceasefire' that supposedly includes a halt to all hostilities in Ukraine from the evening of April 19 to midnight on April 21. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the occupiers would adhere to the ceasefire regime, provided Kyiv does the same.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Saturday evening that Ukraine would act in a mirrored manner regarding Russia's ceasefire. He also proposed to extend the ceasefire beyond April 20 if true silence prevails.
- According to the monitoring project DeepState, practically no direction felt the so-called 'Easter ceasefire' promised by the Russians.
- According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, from the beginning of April 20 until 4 PM, despite the announced 'ceasefire' by the RF, 45 combat clashes occurred at the front, with 20 in the Pokrovsk direction.
- In the Kremlin, it was stated that the RF leader Vladimir Putin did not give the order to continue the so-called 'Easter ceasefire,' which the Russians were not observing anyway, after midnight on April 21.