Russia 'repelled' Ukraine attacks overnight amid truce: defence ministry

MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday that its forces had retaliated after Ukraine attempted attacks overnight despite an Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The defence ministry said in a briefing that “despite the announcement of the Easter truce, Ukrainian units at night made attempts to attack Russian positions in the areas of Sukhaya Balka and Bogatyr in the Donetsk People’s Republic, which were repelled.”

The ministry was referring to the villages of Sukha Balka and Bagatyr in the Russian-held part of the eastern Donetsk region.

Moscow said Ukraine also attacked the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod border regions of Russia, saying that “as a result there are dead and wounded civilians”.

When announcing the truce Saturday, Putin told troops to respond militarily to any violation of the truce.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would comply with the truce but that troops would also respond “symmetrically” to any attacks.

On Sunday Zelensky said Russian attacks were ongoing.

The Russian ministry said its own troops had from 1500 GMT on Saturday “strictly observed the ceasefire and stayed at the front lines and positions they previously occupied”.

The Russian defence ministry accused Ukraine of launching “48 drones including one in Crimea”, annexed by Russia in 2014.

Ukrainian units “444 times shelled… the positions of our troops and carried out 900 strikes with drones”, the ministry added.