Kyiv – Kyiv on Wednesday said Russia violated a unilateral ceasefire that it called for, by attacking eastern and southern Ukraine with more than 100 drones a day after Russian strikes killed almost 30 Ukrainian civilians.
Russia rained missiles on several Ukrainian cities on Tuesday, as Moscow gears up to mark its patriotic May 9 parade on Red Square, marking victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Moscow had never said it would abide by Kyiv’s call to halt fire starting midnight on May 6 — a counter-truce called for by President Volodymyr Zelensky after Russia announced a ceasefire to cover its Victory Day parade in Moscow on Saturday.
Zelensky had dismissed Russia’s “utter cynicism” for calling for a ceasefire to protect the parade — one of the most important days of the year for Russian leader Vladimir Putin — while launching deadly strikes on his country.
“This shows that Russia rejects peace and its fake calls for a ceasefire on May 9th have nothing to do with diplomacy,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media, adding on Wednesday.
“Putin only cares about military parades, not human lives.”
A Ukrainian officer at the eastern front told AFP anonymously that “the enemy continued to carry out infantry raids and attempts to storm our positions.”
He said that since Russia “did not comply” with the Kyiv-suggested ceasefire, “our unit responded in kind and countered all provocations.”
Another frontline commander said: “The intensity of combat operations remains at the same level.”
His unit, he said, was also responding: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!”.
Kyiv said at least one person was killed in the strikes.
– ‘No military justification’ –
The Kremlin has not commented on the Kyiv-proposed ceasefire, only demanding that Ukraine comply to halt attacks for May 9 — which has become a central event during the 26 years of President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
Moscow’s defence ministry said it downed 53 Ukrainian drones between 21:00 and 07:00 (1800-0400 GMT) — far fewer than in previous days.
It did not say whether any of the drones attacked after Kyiv’s unilateral truce was supposed to come into effect at midnight.
Late on Tuesday, Ukrainian drone attacks on the north of Russian-annexed Crimea killed five people, Moscow-installed authorities in the peninsula said.
The strike hit hours after Russia had pounded several Ukrainian cities with the deadliest attacks in weeks — killing at least 28 people in 24 hours.
Zelensky called on Ukraine’s allies to condemn the attacks and said a strike on the centre of Zaporizhzhia city, which killed 12 people, had “absolutely no military justification.”
– Attacks deep in Russia –
Both sides have stepped up attacks in recent weeks, with the more than four-year war claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians.
Kyiv on Tuesday struck deep inside Russia, killing two people in Cheboksary, a city on the Volga, hundreds of miles from Ukraine.
The attacks have created a sense of nervousness in Russia ahead of the traditional May 9 parade, with Moscow saying it will remove military hardware from its parade for the first time in almost 20 years.
It has also started intermittent city-wide internet shutdowns lasting until Saturday.
Zelensky has called this a sign of weakness, saying: “They fear drones may buzz over Red Square.”
Talks on ending what has spiralled into Europe’s worst conflict since World War II have shown little progress and have been sidelines by the Iran conflict.
Moscow is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from four regions it claims as its own — terms seen as unacceptable to Kyiv.
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Source: AFP
