Vladimir Putin violates his own ceasefire with Easter kamikaze drone barrage

James Saunders
Sun, 12 Apr 2026 02:52:58 +0000

Vladimir Putin's forces have violated his own Easter truce by blitzing Ukrainian soldiers with drones.

"The ceasefire is not being observed by the Russian side," Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for Ukraine's 148th Separate Artillery Brigade, revealed on Saturday.

Artillery fire had stopped in his brigade's sector at the junction of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, but the drone attacks continued.

Ukrainian forces were responding with "silence to silence and fire to fire", Mr Kolesnychenko said.

Ukraine's military command recorded nearly 470 Russian violations of the truce.

"After 4pm, 469 ceasefire violations were recorded, namely: 22 enemy assault actions, 153 shelling attacks, 19 strikes by attack drones... and 275 strikes by FPV drones," it stated.

"Today in total, the enemy carried out 57 air strikes and dropped 182 guided aerial bombs.

"In addition, it deployed 3,928 kamikaze drones and conducted 2,454 shelling attacks on populated areas and positions of our troops."

Vladimir Putin ordered his men to halt hostilities from 4pm on Saturday until Sunday's end, a 32-hour pause for Orthodox Easter.

He did the same last year - then proceeded to violate that.

Volodymyr Zelensky pledged Ukraine would honour the truce, calling it a chance to advance peace efforts.

"We all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind," he said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have signalled the conflict may finally be nearing its conclusion.

Russia's Foreign Minister said the prospect of a political and diplomatic settlement was "on the horizon".

While Ukraine's chief negotiator Kyrylo Budanov told Bloomberg: "They all understand the war needs to end. That's why they are negotiating. I don't think it will be long."

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Before the truce was scheduled to begin, overnight drone strikes killed at least two people in Odesa.

Two more were wounded when drones struck a residential neighbourhood in the Black Sea port city.

The attack damaged apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.

Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Ukrainian forces shot down or intercepted 133 of those drones before the proposed ceasefire took effect.

New footage has emerged showing a Ukrainian drone brigade killing 8,000 Russian soldiers in a single month.

The video depicts Russian troops attempting to defend themselves against incoming drones.

Soldiers can be seen throwing sticks and swatting at the unmanned aircraft in desperate attempts to survive.

Multiple fighters were ambushed on the battlefield by Ukrainian FPV drones.

The brigade "eliminated 8,005 Russian troops" during the period.

The grim footage surfaced as both sides entered the tense truce, with Mr Zelensky warning: "Easter should be a time of silence and safety.

"A ceasefire could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace."