Russian drone attacks on several Ukrainian regions overnight after ‘Easter truce’ ends, says Ukraine’s military – Ukraine war live

Ukraine reports Russian drone strikes overnight after 'Easter ceasefire' ends

Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military has reported Russian drone attacks on several regions overnight, hours after the 30 hour “Easter ceasefire” declared by Vladimir Putin came to an end.

In a televised meeting with his commander-in-chief on Saturday, the Russian president said the temporary ceasefire would last from 6pm Moscow time (4pm BST) on Saturday until midnight (10pm BST) on Sunday.

Putin claimed he had ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” along the frontline during this window for “humanitarian reasons”. But both Kyiv and Moscow accused each other of violating the ceasefire, with drone strikes and shelling.

Ukraine’s air force said today that Russia launched 96 drones and three missiles in overnight attacks targeting Ukraine, causing damage in the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions.

Air defence units shot down 42 Russian drones, and another 47 drones were redirected by electronic warfare, the air force wrote in a post on Telegram.

Air raid alerts have reportedly been activated in Kyiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damages from the attacks, regional Ukrainian officials said on social media.

A building hit by Russian military strikes in the frontline town of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, on 19 April 2025. Photograph: Ukrainian Armed Forces/Reuters

In some other developments:

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Vladimir Putin’s Easter ceasefire declaration as a fake “PR” exercise and said Russian troops had continued their drone and artillery attacks across many parts of the frontline on Sunday. He claimed Moscow had violated its own ceasefire thousands of times.

• Washington said it would welcome an extension of the truce, and Zelenskyy said Ukraine would pause strikes for 30 days. Putin, however, did not give orders to extend the 30 hour truce beyond Sunday.

• Donald Trump used the situation to claim that a breakthrough was within a few days’ reach. “Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week,” he posted on Sunday. “Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a fortune.” On Friday, Trump said he would end US peace efforts unless the two sides showed movement.

• Russia’s Voronezh region that borders Ukraine was under air raid alerts for two hours overnight, the region’s governor said on Telegram.

• Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times and said it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, saying also that there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population.

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Russia says it has resumed fighting after 'Easter truce' in Ukraine

In a freshly issued statement, the Russian military has confirmed that its forces have resumed strikes on Ukraine after the surprise “Easter truce”.

“With the end of the ceasefire, the armed forces of the Russian Federation continued to conduct the special military operation,” the Russian military said.

The “special military operation” is what Russian officials call Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched by the Kremlin in February 2022.

The Russian defence ministry claimed the country’s military “strictly observed the ceasefire and remained at the previously occupied lines and positions”.

This stands in contrast from the ceasefire violations Ukraine has reported since the Easter truce was announced by Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

Ukrainian forces reported nearly 3,000 violations of Russia’s ceasefire with the heaviest attacks and shelling seen along the Pokrovsk part of the frontline, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

At least 3 people killed in Russian attacks in Kherson region over the past day - governor

In the Kherson region, three people were killed and three injured in Russian attacks over the past day, its governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported in a post on Telegram.

He said that Russian forces targeted residential areas and a store in the attacks.

Among those killed in the Kherson region was a woman who was hit by a drone while walking down the street, according to Gyunduz Mamedov, a former deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine. We have not yet been able to independently verify these claims and reports.

Ukraine reports Russian drone strikes overnight after 'Easter ceasefire' ends

Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military has reported Russian drone attacks on several regions overnight, hours after the 30 hour “Easter ceasefire” declared by Vladimir Putin came to an end.

In a televised meeting with his commander-in-chief on Saturday, the Russian president said the temporary ceasefire would last from 6pm Moscow time (4pm BST) on Saturday until midnight (10pm BST) on Sunday.

Putin claimed he had ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” along the frontline during this window for “humanitarian reasons”. But both Kyiv and Moscow accused each other of violating the ceasefire, with drone strikes and shelling.

Ukraine’s air force said today that Russia launched 96 drones and three missiles in overnight attacks targeting Ukraine, causing damage in the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions.

Air defence units shot down 42 Russian drones, and another 47 drones were redirected by electronic warfare, the air force wrote in a post on Telegram.

Air raid alerts have reportedly been activated in Kyiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damages from the attacks, regional Ukrainian officials said on social media.

A building hit by Russian military strikes in the frontline town of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, on 19 April 2025. Photograph: Ukrainian Armed Forces/Reuters

In some other developments:

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Vladimir Putin’s Easter ceasefire declaration as a fake “PR” exercise and said Russian troops had continued their drone and artillery attacks across many parts of the frontline on Sunday. He claimed Moscow had violated its own ceasefire thousands of times.

• Washington said it would welcome an extension of the truce, and Zelenskyy said Ukraine would pause strikes for 30 days. Putin, however, did not give orders to extend the 30 hour truce beyond Sunday.

• Donald Trump used the situation to claim that a breakthrough was within a few days’ reach. “Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week,” he posted on Sunday. “Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a fortune.” On Friday, Trump said he would end US peace efforts unless the two sides showed movement.

• Russia’s Voronezh region that borders Ukraine was under air raid alerts for two hours overnight, the region’s governor said on Telegram.

• Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times and said it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, saying also that there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population.