May 11 (Reuters) – Russia and Ukraine on Monday reported fighting along their long front line despite a U.S.-mediated ceasefire, and each accused the other of launching drone and artillery strikes.
Ukraine and Russia agreed on Friday to a ceasefire from May 9 to May 11 as part of a U.S.-led push for peace under President Donald Trump after more than four years of war following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Trump said on Friday he hoped the ceasefire would be extended, but it was already showing signs of strain on Sunday, when each side accused the other of violating it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday Moscow had refrained from large-scale aerial and missile attacks but had continued assaults along parts of the 1,200-km (745-mile) front line where Russian forces are advancing.
He said Ukrainian troops were responding and defending their positions.
Russian state news agencies reported on Monday that Russia’s Defence Ministry had said it had recorded 23,802 ceasefire violations by Ukraine since the start of the ceasefire.
Russian troops had responded in kind to Ukrainian attacks, using rocket launchers, artillery and drones, the ministry was quoted as saying.
FRONTLINE CLASHES
The General Staff of Ukraine’s military said 180 battlefield clashes had been recorded along the front line over the previous 24 hours. Russian forces had on Sunday deployed “kamikaze” drones and artillery in attacks on settlements and military positions, it said in a Monday morning update.
In its Monday afternoon report, the General Staff said Russian troops had carried out 38 new assaults on Ukrainian positions, adding: “Artillery shelling of border areas continues.”
Regional governors in Ukraine reported early on Monday that at least three people had been killed in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson regions over the past 24 hours.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he thought the war was coming to an end and that he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, with Germany’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, as his preferred partner.
But European Union foreign ministers, arriving for a meeting in Brussels on Monday, rejected Putin’s suggestion, voicing scepticism that Russia was ready to end the war and negotiate sincerely on peace and security for Europe.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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