By Dan Peleschuk
May 10 (Reuters) – A U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine appeared under serious strain on Sunday, with both sides trading blame for weekend attacks.
The three-day pause, announced on Friday by President Donald Trump, is part of a broader U.S.-led push for peace that has so far failed to end the more than four-year-old war despite months of shuttle diplomacy.
Three people were killed in Russian drone strikes on areas near the front line, and more than 200 battlefield clashes had taken place since early Saturday, Ukrainian officials reported on Sunday.
They held off explicitly accusing Russia of violating the U.S.-brokered deal, which also included a swap of 1,000 prisoners of war from each side. It was unclear when the exchange would take place.
On Sunday, Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of flouting the ceasefire, saying it had downed 57 Ukrainian drones over the past day and “responded in kind” on the battlefield.
Earlier this week, Russia and Ukraine had each announced separate ceasefires – starting on Friday and Wednesday respectively – but quickly accused one another of breaking them.
DEAD AND WOUNDED IN UKRAINE
One person each in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions were killed in Russian drone attacks, regional governors and police said in separate reports on Sunday.
In the northeastern Kharkiv region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said eight people, including two children, were wounded in drone strikes on the regional capital and nearby settlements.
Seven people, including a child, were also wounded in the Kherson region in drone or artillery attacks since early Saturday, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Sunday.
The State Emergencies Service said Russian forces attacked one of its rescue vehicles in the Dnipropetrovsk region with a drone, wounding a 23-year-old driver.
Kyiv’s air force said Russia had launched 27 long-range drones at Ukraine overnight – a lower number than usual – but that air defences had downed all of them.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Sunday afternoon that nearly 210 clashes had taken place along the sprawling, 1,200-km front line since early Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
STALLED DIPLOMACY
Russian forces are pressing an offensive to capture the rest of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow has demanded Kyiv cede before it considers ending its war.
U.S.-backed peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have stalled over the matter, as well as over control of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest.
Russian officials had sent mixed signals on Saturday, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying peace in Ukraine was a “very long way” away but President Vladimir Putin suggesting the war was “coming to an end”.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Moscow “soon enough” to continue talks with Russia, news agency Interfax reported Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying on Sunday.
On Friday, Kyiv’s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said he had met Witkoff and Kushner in Miami for talks on humanitarian issues and to “coordinate further steps” toward peace.
Separately, Germany on Sunday dismissed a suggestion by Putin that former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could coordinate talks with the European Union to secure a peace deal in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Dan PeleschukEditing by Gareth Jones and Ros Russell)
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