Russia and Ukraine accused each other of thousands of attacks that violated the one-day Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, with the Kremlin saying there was no order to extend the pause in frontline fighting.

Washington said it would welcome an extension of the truce, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated several times Ukraine's willingness to pause strikes for 30 days in the war.

Russian forces violated President Vladimir Putin’s self-imposed Easter ceasefire in his Ukraine war with numerous strikes and assaults, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.

“We can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places it is still trying to make individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel.

Ukraine failed to uphold the 30-hour Easter ceasefire which expired at midnight on Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

She made her remarks on Sunday evening after the US State Department said it would welcome an extension of the short truce “beyond Sunday.”

“Well, the Kiev regime failed to observe it during Easter,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram. “Moreover, the [Ukrainian government] has violated the truce using American HIMARS systems,” she added.

The United States may be ready to “move on” from its efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there is no clear progress in the coming days, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.

“We’re not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end,” Rubio told reporters in Paris after a grueling day of talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials in Paris.

Officials from Ukraine will meet with American representatives in Paris Thursday to discuss the war with Russia less than a day after the latest Russian attack on Ukraine.

Ukraine's presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said in a social media post they "are working in Paris," with Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha and Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov.

The administration appears inclined to adopt Russia’s wholly fictionalized version of the facts of this war.

On Friday Steve Witkoff travelled to St Petersburg to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Friday’s meeting was the third time this year that President Donald Trump’s special envoy met with the Russian President. The meeting, which lasted for more than four hours, focused on ‘aspects of a Ukrainian settlement’. Witkoff’s visit came after President Trump warned the Kremlin on social media that it ‘has to get moving’ on a ceasefire.

• Ballistic missiles hit centre of city in Ukraine's north not far from Russian border, Kyiv officials say
• Some 117 people injured, bodies strewn about street
• Ukraine says Russia used cluster munitions, deliberately hit civilians
• Moscow yet to comment on deadliest strike since September 2024
• Attack comes soon after Trump envoy held talks with Putin in US push to end war

China denied any military involvement in Ukraine, after Kyiv said it had captured two Chinese men in the country’s east.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Wednesday said China was still trying to confirm with Ukraine details of the capture of the two Chinese citizens who Ukrainian authorities said were fighting for the Russian military.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Chinese nationals fighting in the Russian army have been taken prisoner in eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces fighting in the Donetsk region obtained the Chinese nationals’ documents, bank cards and personal data.