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Military operation in Ukraine

Easter truce between Russia and Ukraine announced by Moscow expires

As Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on April 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not ordered to extend it

© Alexey Konovalov/TASS

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. The Easter truce between Russia and Ukraine, that was announced by Moscow from 6:00 p.m. Moscow time (3:00 p.m. GMT) on April 19 until 00:00 Moscow time (9:00 p.m. GMT) on April 21, has expired. As Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on April 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not ordered to extend it.

Putin announced an Easter truce at a meeting with Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov on Saturday. The ceasefire was in force for 30 hours.

Despite the announcement of the Easter truce, the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to attack the positions of Russian troops near Sukha Balka and Bogatyr in the Donetsk People’s Republic at night, which were repelled.

During the night, the Ukrainian armed forces also used 48 UAVs, including one on the territory of Crimea. Ukrainian units fired at the positions of Russian troops 444 times, carried out 900 UAV strikes and dropped various munitions, including on the border areas of the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions. As a result, there are civilian casualties and injuries, and civilian objects have been damaged.

This is the second truce during the special military operation. The first one was declared in 2023 on the occasion of Christmas - from 12:00 Moscow time (9:00 a.m. GMT) on January 6 to 00:00 Moscow time (9:00 p.m. GMT) on January 7. It was not observed by Kiev, which the Kremlin then called a "cynical and inexplicable reaction.".

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