AZE.US
There is still no Easter truce between Russia and Ukraine, and the war has instead moved deeper into another cycle of reciprocal attacks. In recent days, Russian missile and drone strikes have killed civilians in Ukraine, while Kyiv has continued sending drones against targets inside Russia. AP reported that Kyiv has kept the door open to an Easter ceasefire, but the attacks have continued, not slowed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to discuss a temporary halt, including a pause in strikes on energy infrastructure, and planned to ask U.S. intermediaries to relay that offer to Moscow. But Reuters said the Kremlin reacted coolly and again insisted that any serious pause would have to be tied to a broader peace arrangement, not a short holiday truce.
On the ground, the war is telling a different story. AP said Russian attacks over the past two days hit areas including Kyiv’s surroundings, Nikopol, Sumy and other regions, causing deaths, injuries and damage. Ukrainian officials have also said Russia has intensified some daytime strikes, which Kyiv sees as part of a broader pressure campaign against civilian and critical infrastructure.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has kept up its own long-range pressure on Russian territory. AP and Al Jazeera reported that Ukrainian drones struck targets in Russia, while Al Jazeera separately said attacks hit the port of Primorsk and the NORSI oil refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region. That means both sides are still escalating militarily even as the ceasefire idea remains publicly alive.
Zelenskyy’s diplomatic activity has continued in parallel. AP reported that he traveled to Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the latest wave of strikes unfolded. Al Jazeera also reported that Zelenskyy later visited Damascus, where Ukraine and Syria agreed to cooperate on military and security experience. Those trips suggest Kyiv is still trying to strengthen its diplomatic position, but they do not point to any immediate breakthrough with Moscow.
For now, the gap between rhetoric and reality remains wide. A prisoner exchange around Orthodox Easter is still being discussed, according to AP, but that humanitarian channel is separate from a real ceasefire. As of April 5, the more concrete reality is this: there is no Easter truce in force, and Russia and Ukraine are still hitting each other.