Russia and Ukraine on Monday reported fighting along their long front line despite a US-mediated ceasefire. Each has accused the other of launching drone and artillery strikes.
Ukraine and Russia agreed on Friday to a ceasefire from May 9th to May 11th as part of a US-led push for peace under US president Donald Trump after more than four years of war following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Trump said on Friday he hoped the ceasefire would be extended, but it was already showing signs of strain on Sunday, when each side accused the other of violating it.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday Moscow had refrained from large-scale aerial and missile attacks but had continued assaults along parts of the 1,200km front line where Russian forces are advancing.
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He said Ukrainian troops were responding and defending their positions.
Russian state news agencies reported on Monday that Russia’s defence ministry recorded 23,802 ceasefire violations by Ukraine since the start of the ceasefire.
Russian troops had responded in kind to Ukrainian attacks on rocket launchers, artillery and drone-launch sites, the ministry was quoted as saying.
One person was killed and three wounded in a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s southern Belgorod region, Russian state news agency Tass cited the regional governor as saying on Monday.
The general staff of Ukraine’s military said 180 battlefield clashes had been recorded along the front line over the previous 24 hours. Russian forces had on Sunday deployed “kamikaze” drones and artillery in attacks on settlements and military positions, it said in a Monday morning update.
In its Monday afternoon report, the general staff said Russian troops had carried out 38 new assaults on Ukrainian positions, adding: “Artillery shelling of border areas continues.”
Regional governors in Ukraine reported early on Monday that at least three people had been killed in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson regions over the past 24 hours.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he thought the war was coming to an end and that he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe. He said Germany’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, was his preferred partner.
But European Union foreign ministers, arriving for a meeting in Brussels on Monday, rejected Putin’s suggestion, voicing scepticism that Russia was ready to end the war and negotiate sincerely on peace and security for Europe.
It was also announced that the European Union has imposed sanctions on 16 individuals and seven entities in Russia for systematic unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. – Reuters
