Russia claims it is upholding Easter truce, accuses Ukraine of hundreds of violations – Al Jazeera

V Selensky claimed that Russia “broke its unilateral ceasefire 60 times” during the Russian self-ordered unilateral and Easter truce.

It must be noted that Ukraine did not commit to any ceasefire over Easter.

Al Jazeera reports that “Russia’s Defence Ministry says its forces have “strictly abided” by the Easter truce, but it accuses Ukraine of breaking it more than 1,000 times.”

The Russian ministry said Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times and it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks.

It added that the border regions of Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod had come under attack. “As a result, there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population as well as damage to civilian objects,” the ministry said. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.”

It is undisputed that Russia did not fly any attack during the current unilateral Easter ceasefire. No missiles, not drones hit Ukrainian territories, no Ukrainian casualties, civilian or military, have been reported due to Russian aerial attacks. Instead, Russia claims that the Russian regions of Bryansk, Belgorod and Kursk have been attacked by air and with shells resulting in Russian casualties and deaths.

While it is easy to proof Ukrainian attacks on these Russian regions, it may be more difficult to show that there were, indeed, Russian attacks on the ground against the Ukrainian front line. Considering that Ukraine did not commit to the Easter truce, there may have been fire exchanges between Ukraine and Russia on the frontline, either provoked or still part of an ongoing operation.

This Easter ceasefire, unilaterally ordered by Putin may give an impression on how a full ceasefire may develop, with accusations, provocations and attacks of each side. It also exemplifies that there is no place for NATO troops in between.

But is shows that a ceasefire is possible, it can be ordered by the leaders of each side. A ceasefire needs to be subject to conditions which both sides agree to. While Ukraine is on the losing side and Ukraines’s proxy master, the US, does not want to continue (Biden’s) war, there is only the sour reality for Ukraine to accept Russian conditions. Ukraine played and lost, in hope of a US involvement. History has shown many times that such hopes are unfounded.