Russia, Ukraine report Easter ceasefire breaches

April 13, 2026

Summary

Russia, Ukraine said Easter truce violations continued, with both reporting drone and shelling attacks before the ceasefire expired.

Why this matters

The report underscored how limited ceasefires in Russia’s war in Ukraine remained difficult to enforce, even during a major religious holiday. It also highlighted the continued risk to civilians and the lack of independently verified information from the battlefield.

Russia and Ukraine accused each other Sunday of violating a 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire, with both sides reporting continued drone and shelling attacks before the truce was due to end at midnight.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it recorded 1,971 ceasefire violations overnight into Sunday. Ukraine’s military General Staff said in a late evening report that it had documented 7,696 Russian violations during the truce.

According to the Orthodox calendar observed in both countries, Easter fell on Sunday this year.

A soldier from Ukraine’s 65th Brigade, fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region, said Russian reconnaissance drones were still operating in the area, preventing efforts to recover the bodies of dead troops.

“We wanted to evacuate our fallen comrades today, but (the Russians) are not letting us do so just yet,” the soldier, said at a candlelit military Easter service.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the reported violations included 1,355 artillery shelling incidents, 115 assault operations, and 6,226 attack drone strikes. It said no airstrikes had been recorded.

Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service said two civilians were wounded Sunday in a Russian drone attack in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Police in the region later said a Russian drone struck a car, injuring one person.

Russia said a child was among civilians injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Kursk region. Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said two people were killed by Ukrainian shelling, and several others were injured in strikes across the border region.

Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-installed head of occupied parts of the southern Kherson region, said Ukrainian troops shelled an administrative building and a private home in two villages, causing no injuries.

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Europe

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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s wife, Begona Gomez, was formally charged with corruption after a criminal investigation that began in April 2024, according to a court ruling made public Monday.

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President Emmanuel Macron has said France should make it easier to return African cultural heritage. During a 2017 visit to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, he said France would never again interfere in its former colonies and promised to facilitate returns within five years.

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Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar said Monday that if Russian President Vladimir Putin called him, he would answer and urge him to end the war in Ukraine.

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Middle East

Hezbollah says it won’t honor U.S. Israel-Lebanon talks

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Military & National Security

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