MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The Easter truce, which was repeatedly breached by Kiev, has expired and now, the Russian army continues to perform its military missions, targeting military and paramilitary facilities, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing.
He also commented on the Ukrainian administration's allegation that Russian President Vladimir Putin "demonstrates the desire to kill." "It’s not true. The Ukrainian side carries on with its propaganda, while our military carries on with the special military operation," Peskov pointed out.
"You know that an Easter ceasefire was declared but it is now over. Ukraine repeatedly violated the ceasefire and now, our forces continue their work to achieve the goals set by the commander-in-chief; they continue to carry out strikes on military and paramilitary targets as part of this work," the Russian presidential spokesman added.
Putin declared a suspension of hostilities on the eve of Easter, at a Saturday meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov. The 30-hour truce lasted between 6:00 p.m. Moscow time (3:00 p.m. GMT) on April 19 and 12:00 a.m. on April 21.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 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.
However, the head of state pointed out later that the intensity of the Ukrainian armed forces’ combat operations had somewhat diminished during the truce, which "is appreciated."