Mutual charges of not respecting the truce. 1155th Day of War
On April 19, Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce that would include halting all war activities from 6:00 p.m. to midnight between 20 and 21 April. He stated that he expected Ukraine to follow the example of Russia and join the truce. The leader's proposal was formulated in consequence to the US President's announcements Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marc Rubi concerning the cessation by the United States of further attempts to negociate a peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev if there are no clear signals in the following days that it is possible.
President Volodymyr Zelenski reported that during the 30-hour truce the enemy had breached the ceasefire nearly 3,000 times and made 96 infantry storms on various sections of the front and 950 drone attacks. Putin, on the another hand, reported that during this time the Ukrainians violated the ceasefire 5,000 times and carried out 100 strokes utilizing drones.
During the last week, the battles continued throughout the front line, with the area of their top increase being the Pokrovsk direction and the surrounding way to Constantinówka in the Donetsk Oblast. According to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Army, General Alexander of Syria south of Pokrovsk (in the area of the village of Udaczne, Kotłyne and Shevchenko) defenders effectively counterattack. The agressor drove them out of the vicinity of the villages of Sucha Balka and Kałynowe, located next to the road leading to Konstantinówka – an crucial logistics junction. According to reports from the Ukrainian side, the invaders intensified the usage of drones that were most likely utilized in the Kursk region. Russian forces besides made advancement towards Lyman, where they occupied Kateryniwka, as well as the Zaporosian direction in the area of Kamieńskie. According to the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the FR Walerija Gierasimov, they managed to displace the opponent from almost the full Kursk circuit. Kiev claims that Ukrainian troops are inactive defending themselves in the border area south of Olesznia and Gujwo.
On 18 April, a 30-day bilateral moratorium on air strikes against energy infrastructure ended. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian MFA Heorhiy Tychy stated that from March 25 to April 16 Russian forces violated the alleged energy truce more than 30 times. During the last day of its application, 3 incidents have been reported – related to the harm to transformers in the Nikolay region and on the outskirts of Chersonia and the transmission line in the Poltava region.
Aggressor conducted massive drone attacks on Odessa (16, 19, 21 and 22 April), Dniepr (16 April), Nicholas (17 April), Sumy (18 April), Zaporoze (19 April), Poltava and Kharkiv (22 April). He utilized bombs directed in air strikes on Cherson (16 April), Izium (16 and 19 April), Dniepr (18 April) and Zaporozhye (21 April). besides on April 21, Russian rockets fell on the residential areas of Mikołajów, and 3 days earlier ballistic missiles hit 1 of Kharkov's residential districts. As a consequence of the attack, 1 individual was killed and 113 injured. On 23 April in Marganiec in the Dzepropetrovsk Oblast, unmanned workers hit a bus with employees of 1 of the companies. At least 9 people were killed and 42 were injured.
On 22 April there was an detonation in 1 of the largest ammunition depots of the Ministry of Defence FR – 51 Arsenal of the Chief Board of Rocket and Artillery located close the village of Barsowo in the territory of Włodzimierz. According to available data, there may have been more than 100,000 tons of ammunition in the warehouse, including Iskander and Tonic-U rockets and S-300, S-400, Grad, Death and Hurricane rocket systems. The Ukrainian authorities have not so far confirmed their engagement in the attack, and the Russian Ministry of Defence has reported that the detonation was due to “a safety breach during handling of explosives”. The Ministry of Extraordinary Situations of the FR declared a state of emergency in the Kyrżaj region, where the arsenal is located, and the local authorities – the evacuation of respective surrounding towns.
On 16 and 17 April, the Ukrainian armed forces launched a drone attack on the military facilities of the 112th Guarded Rocket Brigade of the Russian Army. in the town of Szuja in the Ivanov region – the barracks building was damaged. According to the Ukrainian side, this unit was to be liable for the criminal rocket strikes on Suma on Palm Sunday on April 13.
On April 19, Ukrainian aviation struck enemy military facilities in Tiotkino in the Kursk Oblastto equip and launch reconnaissance drones and train their pilots. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has notified the liquidation of 20 unmanned operators.
On April 17, Germany updated the list of Ukraine's military aid. Kiev was to receive: 66 MRAP armoured vehicles, ammunition for Leopard 2 tanks, 38,000 rounds of ammunition for the Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, IRIS-T air defence missiles, 3 Zuzana 2 wheeled self-propelled artillery systems (in collaboration with Denmark and Norway), 27,000 155 mm missiles, 1,000 122 mm missiles, 70 unmanned VECTOR aircraft with replacement parts, 150 unmanned aircraft HF-1, 10 unmanned submarine drones, six armoured Bergepanzer 2 evacuation vehicles with replacement parts, and 4 vehicles for demining.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence informed on 16 April that Between 2024 and 2025 the Defence Procurement Agency concluded contracts with 76 national drone manufacturers and allocated over 104 billion hryvnia (about $2.5 billion). In addition, a government grant program was launched, offering producers up to 8 million hryvnia (about $200,000) for the acquisition of equipment and components, provided that the requirements of transparency and deficiency of links with the aggressor are met.
On 19 April another prisoner exchange took place at the border with Belarus in expression 246 on 246. The Russian side besides donated 31 people requiring hospitalization. The majority of those released are young people born in this century. A full of 4552 people returned from captivity to Ukraine from March 2022.
On 22 April, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the procedure for creating citizen training centres for the National opposition Movement, developed by the Ministry of Defence in cooperation with the President's Office. Their tasks will include preparing as many residents as possible to defy with weapons, shaping patriotic attitudes and learning applicable skills essential to defend the country. The centres will be built in all circuits and their backing will be provided by local authorities and businesses. The instructors will be mostly veterans and the training will be based on programmes that take into account regional specificities. The decision to set up training centres shows that the authorities consider the script of a fast end to the armed conflict to be improbable and proceed to strengthen their own military potential.
On April 16, the Reuter Agency reported that North Korea delivered Russia from September 2023 to March 2025 from 4 to 6 million artillery missiles.Their transport was carried by sea and rail, including the usage of Russian ships which transported nearly 16,000 containers from Rajin port to the Russian port of Vostoknya in the Far East. In addition to artillery shells (mainly 122 mm and 152 mm) Pyongyang donated Moscow multi-guided rocket launchers, self-propelled artillery stations, and ballistic missiles.
President Zelenski continues to criticize the Chinese authorities – he accuses them of providing military support to the FR. After allegations of April 8 that at least 155 citizens of the PRC service in the Russian military, On 17 April, he stated that Beijing provides Moscow with artillery ammunition and gunpowder and supports armament production in FR territory. He besides stressed that the leader of Xi Jinping assured that China would not supply weapons to the aggressor. On 22 April, the Deputy Minister of abroad Affairs of Ukraine, judaic Perebyjnis, during a gathering with the Ambassador of the PRC, Ma Shengkun, stressed that the participation of the citizens of this country in the Russian side of the war, as well as the engagement of Chinese companies in the military production in the FR, was of serious concern and contradicted the spirit of partnership between Kiev and Beijing. He added that the evidence supporting these facts was provided by the Ukrainian peculiar services to the Chinese side. The Ukrainian side so called on the authorities of the PRC to take action to halt Russia from assisting Russia in aggression.
The open criticism of the Chinese authorities is an effort to force a clear declaration in Beijing that strategical cooperation with Moscow does not include military support straight affecting the situation on the Ukrainian front.
Zelenski's speeches met with the dementia of the Chinese abroad Ministry. On 18 April, it rejected the President's accusations, declaring them to be ‘unwarranted’, and spokesperson for Lin Jian assured that the PRC had never provided lethal weapons to any of the parties to the ‘Ukrainian crisis’ and strictly controlled exports of dual-use items. Beijing, possibly annoyed by this narrative, may restrict drone exports to Ukraine. On 22 April, the State Customs Service of Ukraine reported that between January and March this year Kiev brought in 127,8 1000 civilian unmanned aircraft worth $371,3 million. China remains their main supplier – they supply 98% of imported machines and components to them.
