All through the weekend, Russian and Ukrainian authorities accused each other of not respecting the "Easter truce" decreed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 30-hour ceasefire, which began at 6 pm on Saturday, April 19, and ended at midnight on Sunday, was not officially extended. The Russian president's decision came at a particularly delicate diplomatic moment, with US President Donald Trump recently showing signs of impatience over his inability to end the conflict, even threatening to withdraw from the negotiations.
The ceasefire was met with skepticism from the Ukrainians, as they believed that the Kremlin's initiative was, above all, aimed at demonstrating their good faith to the US administration in order to continue peace negotiations. Being aware of Trump's desire to secure a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the weekend repeatedly proposed to extend the truce to 30 days. While both countries' authorities accused each other of multiple violations of the truce, some military analysts noted a decrease in combat intensity in certain areas.
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