Russia said on Saturday that clashes were ongoing in four regions of Ukraine, despite Moscow’s unilateral ceasefire announced earlier this week, adding that its forces had been compelled to retaliate against Ukrainian attacks.
Ukraine says Russia has continued to attack it and has called the ceasefire a farce. It did not join the truce but is calling instead for a 30-day ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump is urging the warring sides to agree.
The 72-hour ceasefire, declared by President Vladimir Putin to mark the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, expires at midnight (2100 GMT) on Saturday.
In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said its forces were sticking to the ceasefire – which Ukraine denies – and remaining at previously occupied lines, but that they were retaliating against “violations” by Ukraine.
It alleged that Kyiv’s forces had mounted attacks in the Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine and near 12 different settlements in Donetsk region, which it said Russian troops had repelled.
Blame Game Continues
A wounded Ukrainian soldier at a field hospital in Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday night that “there hasn’t been any ceasefire” and nothing had changed. “Shelling has continued just as before, drones are flying just like before,” he said.
The Russian statement also said that Ukraine had tried four times to break across the border into Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, but did not specify when the alleged attempted incursions had taken place.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that during a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, he emphasized that a 30-day ceasefire would serve as a “real indicator” of progress towards peace with Russia, and that Kyiv was prepared to enforce it without delay.
The Ukrainian president said Russia had to demonstrate its readiness to end the war, starting with an unconditional ceasefire.
Zelenskyy has dismissed the three-day pause as meaningless and each side has accused the other of violating it.
(With inputs from Reuters)
