Orthodox Easter truce falters as Ukraine says Russia continues drone strikes

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia continued to strike Ukrainian positions with drones after a Kremlin-declared Easter ceasefire took effect on Saturday, a Ukrainian military officer told The Associated Press.

“The ceasefire is not being observed by the Russian side,” said Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade.

He said that while artillery fire had paused in the sector where his brigade was working, at the junction of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian forces continued to use drones to strike Ukrainian positions.

Ukrainian forces were responding with “silence to silence and fire to fire,” Kolesnychenko said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. on Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to abide by the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned there would be 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.

But he added: “We all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.”

Ukraine earlier proposed to Russia a pause in attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday.

Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described Putin’s move as a “humanitarian” gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands — a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.

Hours before the ceasefire was due to begin, Russian drone strikes overnight killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, local authorities reported.

A further two people were wounded in the attack on the Black Sea port city, when drones hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.

The driver of a public trolley bus was killed after the vehicle was struck by a drone in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, less than an hour before the start of the ceasefire, Kherson regional head Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, hours before a proposed Easter ceasefire was due to come into force.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that a prisoner swap Saturday brought home 175 of its soldiers. Zelenskyy confirmed Saturday’s exchange, saying that 175 service members and seven civilians were returned. “Most had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,” he wrote on X.

Hundreds of relatives, clutching photos of missing soldiers, crowded around ambulances and buses carrying returned prisoners of war in northern Ukraine. Many called out names and brigade numbers in hopes of finding loved ones faster.

The crowd, many draped in blue and yellow flags, chanted “We welcome you!” as the weary returnees in blue jackets reached through windows to shake hands and embrace well-wishers. Family also members held up portraits of others still-missing, asking the freed prisoners whether they recognized anyone.

Svitlana Pohosyan was waiting for her son’s return. Asked about the ceasefire, she said: “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 one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.

Separately, seven residents of Russia's Kursk region returned from Ukraine on Saturday after they were 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.

According to Moskalkova, the returnees were the last of those who were taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian army took control of parts of the region in 2024.

Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.

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Zhyhinas reported from northern Ukraine. Morton reported from London.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine