Zelensky takes swipe at Putin as he accuses Russia of violating Easter truce 2,000 times

The Ukrainian leader had been sceptical of Russia's truce (Image: Getty)

Volodymyr Zelensky says that Vladimir Putin has already violated his surprise Easter truce 2,000 times. Russia said yesterday that there would be a temporary pause to hostilities between from 16:00 BST yesterday to 22:00 BST today, but reports indicate that attacks have been ongoing.

The truce was initially met with suspicion, with Ukraine's foreign minister Andriy Sybiha saying: "Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a cease-fire. 30 hours instead of 30 days. Unfortunately, we have had a long history of his statements not matching his actions. We want to see Russian forces actually cease fire in all directions. We also urge all of our partners and the international community to be vigilant."

The Russian leader had said that fighting would be paused during Easter (Image: Getty)

But speaking this evening, the Ukrainian leader announced that no such truce had been achieved, with Russia continuing to bombard Ukrainian cities and frontlines.

He said: "There have already been 67 Russian assaults against our positions across various directions, with the highest number in the Pokrovsk direction.

"There were a total of 1,355 cases of Russian shelling, 713 of which involved heavy weaponry. The Russians also used first-person-view drones (FPVs) 673 times."

Despite this, Zelensky has offered the Kremlin a longer cessation of fighting between the two, extend Putin’s offer of a 30-hour ceasefire to a 30 day pause.

Zelensky offered to "cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days".

Seemingly, there has been no let up in Russia attacks on Ukraine (Image: Getty)

He added: “If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it intends to continue doing only those things which destroy human lives and prolong the war."

Russia has hit back at the claims, stating that the truce was observed throughout.

The Kremlin claims that Ukrainian forces shot at Russian positions 444 times, whilst it says it also registered 900 drone attacks.

The truce comes just days after the US threatened to “take a pass” if a peace deal is not secured soon in the conflict.

The US administration has placed achieving peace between the two sides as one of its key aims since taking power and has held talks with both sides.

However previous agreements and ceasefires have struggled to hold, including an agreement on not targeting energy infrastructure, which was broken by Russia within minutes.