Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of hundreds of ceasefire violations during a short truce coinciding with Orthodox Easter, according to the BBC. The Ukrainian military said on Sunday morning that Russian forces had committed 2,299 violations since the truce began at 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Exchange of Accusations

The Russian defence ministry, in turn, said Ukrainian forces had committed 1,971 violations, including three attempted counter-attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk region; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said his nation’s forces would respond ‘symmetrically’ to Russian attacks during the ceasefire, calling Easter ‘a time of peace.’

Zelensky added that he hoped the truce could be extended beyond Easter to facilitate peace negotiations which have all but stalled with the outbreak of war in the Middle East. However, Russia rejected the idea, saying its attacks would resume on Monday.

Details of the Violations

Russian troops mounted 28 attacks and carried out nearly 2,000 drone strikes, Ukraine’s military said, but did not use bombs or missiles; In Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, which borders Russia, local authorities said a Russian drone hit an ambulance overnight, injuring three medics.

According to the Russian defence ministry, Ukraine had launched three overnight attacks on positions in the Pokrovsk area and Otradne in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as it also said four attempts by Ukrainian troops to advance in Sumy and Donetsk were ‘thwarted.’

On Saturday, Ukrainian and Russian authorities announced they had each swapped 175 prisoners of war, including seven civilians a piece; the exchange took place as both sides continued to accuse each other of breaching the ceasefire agreement.

Expectations and Stalemate

Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on the frontlines of the conflict, which has been raging since 2022, have low expectations about the ceasefire. Kyiv has long pushed for a more thorough ceasefire, which it and its European allies see as a necessary first step towards striking a lasting end to the full-scale invasion.

However, Moscow has insisted on agreeing to a peace deal first, prompting accusations that it is not serious about ending the fighting, though Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the Easter ceasefire earlier this week, having previously resisted repeated calls from Ukraine for a temporary cessation of fighting. Zelensky said his forces would act in kind.

Earlier in the year. Putin acquiesced to a US request to halt strikes on energy infrastructure as Ukraine braced for bitterly cold temperatures. Both Ukrainian and Russian sources accused each other of limited violations in the first few hours of the truce on Saturday, before making the much larger claims.