Ukraine, Russia trade claims of breaking Easter truce before London talks

KYIV - Russia and Ukraine on Monday each accused the other of violating Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed Easter ceasefire thousands of times, drilling home the immense challenges facing the White House as it plows ahead in its quest to quickly end the war.

Kyiv is expected to respond to a new U.S. proposal in talks in London starting Wednesday and including representatives from the United States, Britain and France. The talks will take place in the shadow of the apparently futile 30-hour truce, which saw one day without widespread Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians but failed to meaningfully stop fighting across the front line.

“We are ready to continue moving forward in the most constructive way to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram on Monday. “An unconditional ceasefire must be the first step toward peace, and this Easter has shown that it is Russia’s actions that are prolonging the war.”

Ukraine had suggested extending the Easter truce, even in a reduced version that would eliminate drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure. Russia launched dozens of drones at Ukrainian cities soon after the truce expired at midnight late Sunday.

On Monday, Putin said the “combat operations have resumed” but added that “as for the proposal on civilian infrastructure, that has to be studied.” He went on to say that while Russia only strikes military targets, sometimes civilian facilities are used for military purposes. He cited a recent strike on a building in Sumy that killed dozens of civilians but was hosting a military awards ceremony.

“These are the people whom Russia considers criminals, who should have received deserved retribution for what they did,” Putin said.

The London talks mark the next phase in President Donald Trump’s increasingly tense efforts to reach a deal to end the war - a campaign promise that started with his claims that he could do so in 24 hours.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials met in Paris last week, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump would probably “move on” soon if a solution could not be reached - a vague statement that appeared to startle both Moscow and Kyiv. Any territorial concessions will be especially hard for Ukraine to swallow, and many here fear frozen lines will allow Russia to regroup and attack again from strengthened positions inside Ukraine.

A senior Ukrainian official said Washington is still “trying to identify if it’s feasible or not to reach any kind of a deal.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

During the meeting, U.S. officials proposed the outline of a deal that would include a full ceasefire and frozen front lines, with future Ukrainian NATO membership not included in talks to end the war. Ukraine has long insisted that NATO would be the fastest, cheapest and most effective way to protect Ukraine from future Russian attacks, but Russia views NATO membership as a nonstarter and often blames Ukraine’s NATO ambitions for the war.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was satisfied by messaging from Washington at multiple levels that Ukraine will not join NATO, stating that it “coincides with our position that Ukraine should not be a member of NATO and should not have the prospect of integration into NATO.”

“It would be a threat to the national interests of the Russian Federation,” Peskov said.

Putin abruptly declared the ceasefire Saturday - even as air raid sirens blared in Ukraine warning of potential Russian airstrikes. Kyiv saw the proposed truce as an attempt to give the impression of Russian willingness to end the war amid ramped-up U.S. pressure for an agreement.

Ukraine responded by pointing out that it had already agreed to a 30-day ceasefire last month proposed by the United States, which Russia rejected, but said it would accept the proposed Russian ceasefire by mirroring Russia’s actions over the Easter holiday.

Even as Ukraine accepted the proposed cessation of hostilities, it warned that Russia had not slowed its assaults along many parts of the front line. Over the following 30 hours, Ukraine said Russia committed 2,935 violations of the truce, while Russia countered that Ukraine committed more than 4,800.

“Overall, across the front line, there were 96 Russian assaults, 1,882 instances of shelling on our positions, including 812 involving heavy weaponry, and over 950 instances of FPV drone use by Russian forces,” Zelensky wrote Monday on social media.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that Ukraine deployed 90 airplane-type drones and launched 1,404 attacks using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and mortars. Ukraine also deployed 3,316 drone strikes against Russian troop positions, the ministry said.