Russia fire break is not extended – Diepresse.com

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has not given any command to extend the fire break over Easter in Ukraine. This explains Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskowreports the state news agency Tass. Putin has the fire break until Sunday midnight (9:00 p.m. CEST). Previously, both sides had accused of injuring the fire break from the Kremlin over Easter.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that Ukraine broke the fire break more than a thousand times. Civilians were also killed. The Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskij said that Russia had strengthened the attacks on Sunday. From midnight to early noon, Russia started 26 attacks.

« Either (the Russian President Vladimir) Putin did not have full control over his army or the situation shows that Russia does not intend to take a real step to terminate the war and only has interest in positive PR, » Selenskij wrote on the Russian leadership on Easter, Selenskij had previously said in the social media.

Putin calls out fire break

« In general, we have been able to say since Easter morning that the Russian army is trying to give the general impression of a break, but in some places it does not give up individual attempts to penetrate and to inflict losses, » said Selenskij. Russian President Vladimir Putin had proclaimed a one-sided 30-hour fire break on Saturday. After that, the fighting from Saturday 6:00 p.m. Moscow time (5 p.m. CEST) should be stopped until Sunday midnight. Selenskij had reacted skeptically immediately. The EU Commission had been reluctant.

According to Selenskij, there were still hundreds of attacks on Saturday evening. The Russian troops would also have attacked further in the morning of Easter Sunday. Russia must comply with the fire break completely, the Ukrainian president said. The proposal of his country to extend the fire break after Easter to 30 days continued to exist. However, if Russia continued its attacks on Sunday, the Ukrainian armed forces would continue to fight. « Ukraine will continue to act in a mirror image. »

Selenskij called on the population in his country not to give up hope for peace. People should hold out. Ukraine never lose faith. « The day of life will come. The day of peace. The day of Ukraine, » said Selenskij in a video spread on social media, which shows him in front of the Sophienkathedral, the main church of Kiev from the 11th century and a central symbol of Ukrainian identity.

Threat of the United States

Putin announced a one -sided fire break for Easter on Saturday. « I order a stop of all military activities for this period, » said the Russian President on Saturday at a meeting with his military chief Waleri Gerassimow In the Kremlin. « We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. » However, the Russian troops should be ready to ward off possible violations of the fire break and provocations of the enemy, Putin added.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks have been counted and 444 attacks on Russian positions. The goals included the border areas of Brjansk, Kursk and Belgorod. Infrastructure was damaged there.

On Good Friday, the United States had threatened to end the war in Ukraine that had been going on since February 2022, should there be no rapid progress and no clear signs of a possible agreement. « We will not continue this undertaking for weeks and months, » said US foreign minister Marco Rubio On the placements of the United States. « That’s why we have to find out very quickly – and I speak of days – whether this can be done in the next few weeks or not. »

Rubio commented on advice with representatives of Ukraine and other European countries that took place in Paris on Thursday. It was the first substantial, high -ranking and personal discussions about the peace efforts of the United States, in which European countries also took part.

A little later, US President Donald Trump himself also threatened to end the peace efforts. « If one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we will simply say: » You are foolish, you are foolish, you are terrible people ‘, and we will do without it. « But he hoped that this will not be necessary, Trump said on Friday.

EU Commission: « Russia could end this war at any time »

The EU Commission also reacted cautiously to the Russian advance for a 30-hour fire break. « Russia has proven to be an aggressor. We therefore have to see an actual end of aggression and clear deeds for a permanent ceasefire, » says the spokeswoman for foreign affairs Anitta Hipper. « Russia could end this war at any time if it really wanted. We continue to support Ukraine for a long, fair and comprehensive peace. »

Moscow and Kyiv exchange prisoners of war

Russia and Ukraine replaced war prisoners again on Holy Saturday. 246 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers each returned to their own troops in a place on the border with Belarus, which had not been described in more detail, the Ministry of Defense said in Moscow. « In addition, 31 wounded prisoners of war were handed over as the gesture of good will in an exchange for 15 wounded Russian soldiers who urgently need to be medical care, » said the message.

The exchange was conveyed by the United Arab Emirates. The warring parties have exchanged several prisoners of war in the more than three years since the beginning of the Russian invasion. According to President Wolodymyr Selenskij, 4,552 Ukrainian soldiers were able to return home.

It was only on Good Friday that Ukraine and Russia replaced hundreds of soldiers’ corpses. 909 Leichname received the Ukrainian side, the staff in Kiev responsible for prisoner prisoner said. The soldiers were killed in fighting in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Saporischschja, Sumy and Charkiw regions. Some came from corpse houses in Russia. Ukrainian troops checked parts of the West Russian border area Kursk for months. In return, the Russian side received the remains of 41 own soldiers. According to Ukrainian information, the exchange took place according to the imparting of the International Red Cross.

War started with Russian attack in February 2022

The war started with the Russian attack on Ukraine February 24, 2022. Putin repeatedly said that he would like an end to the war. Among other things, the prerequisite is that Ukraine does not go to the western military alliance NATO and that the four annexed Ukrainian regions would have to be recognized as Russian. The government in Kyiv rejected this as synonymous with a surrender. (APA/AFP/Reuters/dpa)