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Russia, Ukraine end US-brokered truce with fresh attacks / Photo: © State Emergency Service of Ukraine/AFP
Russia, Ukraine end US-brokered truce with fresh attacks
Russia ended a three-day ceasefire with Ukraine on Tuesday by launching a wave of more than 200 attack drones that damaged energy facilities and apartment buildings, killing one person, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow's army announced Kyiv had also restarted its retaliatory attacks on Russia, saying its air defence units had downed 27 Ukrainian drones after the ceasefire expired.
US President Donald Trump had announced the pause on Friday, hours before Russian leader Vladimir Putin presided over a scaled-down military parade in Red Square to mark the anniversary of victory in World War II.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard air sirens and booms echo out over the Ukrainian capital during the attack.
"Russia itself chose to end the partial silence that had lasted for several days. Overnight, more than 200 attack drones were launched against Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
He wrote that Russian forces had launched more than 80 aerial bombs near the front and more than 30 air strikes in attacks across seven regions that damaged energy facilities, apartment buildings, a kindergarten and a train.
"Russia must end this war, and it is Russia that must take the step toward a real, lasting ceasefire. Until that happens, sanctions against Moscow are necessary and must remain in place and be strengthened," Zelensky added.
Even before the truce expired, the two countries had traded accusations of attacks on civilians that violated it.
The alert siren in Kyiv overnight was the first confirmed in the capital since Friday, before the ceasefire came into force, and authorities urged residents to shelter.
The strikes killed a man and wounded a woman in the area of Synelnykove in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Ganzha, posted on Telegram.
He added three others were wounded in strikes elsewhere in Dnipropetrovsk.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defence units had downed 27 Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions.
- 'No silence at front' -
Zelensky had said on Monday that fighting with Russia was ongoing despite the truce, accusing Moscow of not wanting to end the war started by its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
"Today there was no silence at the front, there was fighting. We have recorded all of this," Zelensky said in his daily address in the final hours of the truce.
Zelensky also said it was "clear that the war in Iran is now drawing the most attention from America".
Negotiations on the Russia-Ukraine war have so far led nowhere, and have been largely sidelined by the Iran conflict -- though Trump's ceasefire announcement had raised some hope that US-led talks to end Russia's invasion could be resumed.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sparked the deadliest war in Europe since World War II, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and forcing millions to flee their homes.
M. Taylor--BTZ
