MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. Today’s Ukraine is not capable of honoring even a holiday truce, so Vladimir Zelensky’s proposal to extend the ceasefire sounds cynical against the backdrop of its violations by Ukraine, political scientist Vladimir Karasev, an expert in international relations, told TASS.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a cessation of hostilities on the eve of Easter, at a Saturday meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov. Later that day, Zelensky said that Ukraine would honor the Easter truce and expressed his readiness to extend it.
"A ceasefire and Ukraine are two incompatible notions," Karasev said. "Of course, it sounds cynical when, commenting on the Easter truce, Zelensky suggested extending the ceasefire as if he had honored it. They [the Ukrainians] will not honor any truce," he noted, saying that drone, artillery and HIMARS attacks had been launched by Ukrainian forces against Russian positions almost on every front over the duration of the latest ceasefire.
The 30-hour truce lasted between 6:00 p.m. Moscow time (3:00 p.m. GMT) on April 19 and midnight on April 21. The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that Ukraine committed 4,900 ceasefire violations. The ministry specified that Ukrainian forces had continued to carry out strikes on Russian positions, as well as on civilian facilities in the border areas of the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions and Crimea. The Ukrainian army launched 90 drones during the truce, eight of which were used outside the special military operation zone.