Russian Drone Strikes Persist Amid Kremlin Easter Ceasefire
Ukraine has reported ongoing drone attacks by Russian forces despite a Kremlin-declared Easter ceasefire that took effect on Saturday. Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade, confirmed that while artillery fire paused in his sector at the junction of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian forces continued drone strikes against Ukrainian positions.
“The ceasefire is not being observed by the Russian side,”
Kolesnychenko told the Associated Press. He added that Ukrainian forces were responding with “silence to silence and fire to fire.”
Ukraine’s military command reported 469 violations of the truce on Saturday night.
Details of the Ceasefire and Reactions
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering a halt to hostilities from 4pm on Saturday until the end of Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to respect the ceasefire, viewing it as an opportunity to advance peace efforts, but warned of a swift military response to any violations.
“Easter should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire (at) Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace,”
Zelenskyy wrote in an online post on Saturday.
“We all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.”
Earlier, Ukraine proposed a pause in attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure during the Orthodox Easter holiday. Previous ceasefire attempts have largely failed, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described Putin’s ceasefire declaration as a “humanitarian” gesture but emphasized that Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands, a major obstacle to reaching an agreement.
Drone Attacks Before Ceasefire and Casualties
Hours before the ceasefire was to begin, Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight, according to local authorities. The attacks targeted a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses, and a kindergarten, and wounded two others.
In the southern city of Kherson, less than an hour before the ceasefire started, a drone strike hit a public trolley bus, killing the driver, Kherson regional head Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Telegram.
The Ukrainian air force stated that Russia launched 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, just hours before the Easter ceasefire was to take effect. Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have shot down 99 Ukrainian drones overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.
Prisoner Swap and Repatriation
On Saturday, a prisoner exchange brought home 175 Russian soldiers, confirmed by both Russia’s defence ministry and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy stated that 175 service members and seven civilians were returned, most having been held since 2022.
“Most had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,”
Zelenskyy wrote on X.
In northern Ukraine, hundreds of relatives gathered around ambulances and buses carrying the returned prisoners of war. Many called out names and brigade numbers, hoping to locate loved ones quickly. The crowd, many draped in blue and yellow flags, chanted “We welcome you!” as the returnees in blue jackets reached through windows to shake hands and embrace well-wishers. Family members also held up portraits of others still missing, asking the freed prisoners if they recognized anyone.
Svitlana Pohosyan, waiting for her son’s return, expressed hope for the ceasefire:
“I want to believe it. God willing, may it be so. We will believe and hope that everything will be fine, that a ceasefire will come on such a holy day, and that there will be peace – peace in Ukraine and peace in the whole world.”
“My celebration will come when my son returns,”
she added. “I will hold him in my arms – and that will be the greatest celebration for me. And for every mother, every family.”
Periodic prisoner exchanges have been among the few positive outcomes of months-long US-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, which have failed to make progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion, now in its fifth year.
Return of Russian Residents from Ukraine
Separately, seven residents of Russia’s Kursk region returned from Ukraine on Saturday after being captured by the Ukrainian army, Russian state media reported. They were greeted at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova.
Moskalkova stated that these returnees were the last of those taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after Ukrainian forces took control of parts of the region in 2024.
Ukrainian forces made a significant incursion into Russian territory in August 2024, marking one of their biggest battlefield successes in the war. This was the first time Russian territory had been occupied by an invader since World War II, dealing a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.
