Ukraine war briefing: Russia responds to Zelenskyy’s Easter truce offer with drone attack
While the Ukrainian president said that the ceasefire could show that diplomacy is working, Russia described this statement as a ‘public relations stunt’. 1,499. what we know today
Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticizes Russia for responding to Easter ceasefire offer with airstrikes. The Ukrainian president said on Wednesday he had spoken to US negotiators about an Easter ceasefire but Russian forces had fired more than 700 drones – many of them Iranian-designed Shaheds – targeting parts of western and central Ukraine in a rare daytime attack. Zelenskyy said: “Russia is responding [to the Easter ceasefire offer] “Shaed continues terrorist operations against our energy sector and infrastructure with his UAVs,” he said, adding that he discussed ways to advance diplomacy with US negotiators: “The silence on Easter may be exactly the signal that tells everyone that diplomacy can be successful.” The Russian foreign ministry rejected Zelenskyy’s offer, calling it a “public relations stunt”.
Ukraine’s president says talks with US mediators aimed at resolving four-year dispute are “positive”. The talks were held remotely on Wednesday with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and US senator Lindsey Graham, with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte also joining the call amid the alliance’s ongoing tensions with Washington. Zelenskyy thanked the United States for its peacemaking efforts and said Ukrainian and U.S. teams agreed to strengthen a document outlining U.S. security guarantees for any future peace agreement. “This is exactly what can pave the way for a credible end to the war.” In recent weeks, Zelenskyy has said the United States pressured Ukraine to make concessions to quickly end the conflict after the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran in late February. Negotiations with Russia have reached an impasse over the territorial issue, with Ukraine refusing to yield to Moscow’s demands that it give up the eastern region of Donbas.
Russia claimed on Wednesday that it had full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, but Kiev denied this. Russia’s defense ministry claimed its forces had taken control of the entire Luhansk region, which is part of Donbas, but a Ukrainian military official said small areas were still held by Ukrainian forces. Russia has made false claims of progress before. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement: “Our troops have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic.” However, Ukrainian forces spokesman Viktor Tregubov said there were no changes to report in that area. “Unfortunately we only keep small parts [in Luhansk]”But these positions have been held by the 3rd Brigade for a long time,” Trehubov told the Associated Press. Russia’s claims of progress in the past have proven false. The Moscow-appointed head of Luhansk announced its complete capture last June. Ukrainian officials said Moscow made false claims of progress to convince US negotiators that a Russian victory in Ukraine was inevitable.
Russia fired hundreds of drones at Ukraine, killing at least five people and destroying a postal terminalUkrainian officials said. Ukraine’s Nova Poshta postal company published a photo on Wednesday showing a warehouse in the western city of Lutsk in flames and thick smoke billowing from its roof. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 339 unmanned aerial vehicles into Ukraine overnight, as well as more than 360 during the day. A drone killed four people in the central Cherkasy region, regional officials said, while an earlier drone attack on a car in Ukraine’s front-line Kherson region killed a woman and seriously injured two others.
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