Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of breaking a 30-hour Easter truce announced by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin that looked set to expire at midnight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops were continuing their shelling and assaults along the front line. Air-raid sirens sounded in Kyiv and several other Ukrainian regions.
Moscow responded shortly afterwards by saying that Ukraine had broken the ceasefire more than a thousand times, inflicting damage to infrastructure and causing civilian deaths.
Pro-Kremlin news agency Tass reported late on Sunday that Mr Putin "has not given any orders" to extend the ceasefire, which would have amounted to the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"Across various frontline directions, there have already been 59 cases of Russian shelling and five assaults by Russian units," Mr Zelenskyy said on social media, quoting a report early on Sunday from Ukrainian military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky.
He said that in the six hours up to midnight on Saturday Ukrainian time, there were "387 instances of shelling and 19 assaults by Russian forces", with drones "used by Russians 290 times".
"Overall, as of Easter morning, we can state that the Russian army is attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire, while in some areas still continuing isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine," Mr Zelenskyy said.
Russia's Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times and that it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks. It said the border districts of the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions have been hit.
"As a result, there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population, as well as damage to civilian objects," it said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Mr Putin's order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US President Donald Trump to get Moscow and Kyiv to agree a ceasefire. On Friday, Washington threatened to withdraw from talks if no progress was made.
Mr Putin announced the Easter truce in televised comments during a meeting with chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov. Mr Zelenskyy responded by saying Ukraine would follow suit, and proposed extending the truce beyond Sunday, despite accusing Russia of having already broken its promises.
"Russia must fully comply with the conditions of the ceasefire. Ukraine's proposal to implement and extend the ceasefire for 30 days after midnight tonight remains on the table," Mr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
Earlier he suggested that "30 days could give peace a chance", while pointing out that Mr Putin had already rejected a proposed 30-day full and unconditional ceasefire.
Mr Putin said the truce for the Easter holiday was motivated by "humanitarian reasons". While he expected Ukraine to comply, he said that Russian troops "must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy".
Mr Putin said the truce would show "how sincere is the Kyiv's regime's readiness, its desire and ability to observe agreements and participate in a process of peace talks".
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree.
"For millions of Ukrainians, Easter is one of the most important holidays. And millions of Ukrainians will go to church," Mr Zelenskyy said in a Saturday evening address. "Over the years of this full-scale war, Russian attacks have destroyed or damaged more than 600 churches, prayer houses and places of worship."
yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
End of free parking
- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18
- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued
- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket
- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200.
- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200
- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
T20 SQUADS
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.
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The specs
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press
