News Screen – Ukraine and Russia again accused each other of carrying out attacks on civilians on the second day of the ceasefire announced by United States President Donald Trump.
The three-day ceasefire came into effect on Saturday as an effort to defuse the conflict that has been going on since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, the situation on the ground is reportedly still heating up with a number of attacks causing civilian casualties in both countries.
Ukrainian officials said at least nine civilians were injured in Russian attacks in several eastern and southern regions of the country. Meanwhile the Russian government reported four people were injured as a result of Ukrainian attacks in the Belgorod border area.
Also read: Russia and Ukraine agree on three-day ceasefire and exchange 1,000 prisoners
The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Ganzha, said the Russian drone strike injured a three-year-old girl and a 23-year-old rescue worker.
According to him, a firefighting vehicle that was on its way to the location to help civilians was the target of a drone attack.
In southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, four people were reported injured, including a 19-year-old youth and a 53-year-old city council employee. Meanwhile in the Mykolaiv region, two civilians were reported injured after a car was the target of a drone attack.
A Russian drone strike also reportedly injured a man in the Zaporizhzhia region. On the other hand, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the Ukrainian attack left four people injured, including a Russian border guard.
The two countries also accused each other of violating an agreement to cease fire on the front lines of fighting.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Ukraine had committed more than 16,000 ceasefire violations in 24 hours, including attacks using thousands of drones.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assessed that Russian troops were continuing military operations and had shown no effort to comply with the agreement to temporarily end the conflict.
“On the front lines, Russian soldiers are not respecting the ceasefire,” Zelensky said in his evening speech.
Until now, diplomatic efforts mediated by the United States have not shown significant progress. However, Trump previously stated that the two countries had agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war as part of initial steps to defuse the conflict.
However, as of Sunday evening, there was no certainty regarding the schedule for the prisoner exchange. ***
