Ukraine says Russia has violated Easter truce

Serhiy Hnezdilov spent on Saturday evening in a ceasefire that was not. Fighting for Ukraine in the eastern Donetsk region, he said he could hear explosions throughout the night, despite the promise of the Kremlin of a truce for Easter.

Mr. Hnezdilov, 24, said that Ukrainian soldiers had been invited to report to their superiors all violations of the ceasefire, who was suddenly declared by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Saturday afternoon and then accepted by good heart by Ukrainian skeptical officials. In addition, Mr. Hnezdilov said that some Ukrainian military operations had been suspended.

“I do not even know how to assess this what is called cease-fire,” said Mr. Hnezdilov, whose 56th Mariupol brigade is fighting near the city of CHASIV YAR. “For me, these are only Putin words like:” We don’t shoot “, but they turn,” he said in an interview on Sunday, adding: “Each so-called cease-fire with the Russians is immediately raped by the Russians.”

The truce, announced by sustainable 30 hours, seemed to be a gambit of Mr. Putin to show in the United States that Russia was serious about peace.

Friday, the Trump administration said that if it could not progress to end the war, it would go away. What it meant was not clear. Would the United States stop peace negotiations, but would continue to provide Ukraine with arms and military information? Or would Washington wash the hands of war and abandon Ukraine?

Without American help, Ukraine’s ability to continue fighting is tenuous. While military aid initially authorized under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. slows down a net, Ukraine was able to earn more military aid from Europe. But it also depends on the United States for essential military information and targeting data, and for patriot missiles used in its air defenses.