Ukraine's military command accused Russia of repeatedly violating a truce to mark the Orthodox Easter Saturday with nearly 470 incidents ranging from air strikes and drone attacks to shelling.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the ceasefire on Thursday, more than a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky first made the proposal.

Both sides had agreed to observe it.

The ceasefire was due to last for 32 hours, from 1300 GMT on Saturday until the end of the day on Sunday, according to the Kremlin.

Yet by late Saturday, the Ukrainian military said it had seen Russia carry out 57 air strikes and drop 182 guided aerial bombs, along with deploying 3,928 drones and conducting 2,454 shelling attacks "on populated areas and positions of our troops".

In Russia's Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, Governor Alexander Khinshtein also accused Kyiv of breaking the truce by attacking a gas station in the town of Lgov with a drone, injuring three people, including a baby.

In his evening address on Saturday, Zelensky called for a longer ceasefire.

"We have put this proposal to Russia, and if Russia again chooses war instead of peace, this will once again demonstrate to the world, and to the United States, who really wants what."

The two sides held a ceasefire for Orthodox Easter last year, but both accused the other of hundreds of violations. (AFP)


Edited by Tony Sabine