Moscow, Apr 21 (PTI) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said that the unilateral 30-hour Easter truce has ended and the Special Military Operations in Ukraine have resumed with full force.

The Easter truce ended after midnight on Sunday local time, during which both sides accused each other of its violation.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here, Putin noted that overall, during the 30-hour Easter truce, there was a drop in military activities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

“Combat operations have restarted,” Putin was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency.

Putin said that, despite Kyiv committing 4,900 violations of the Easter truce, there has been a noticeable decrease in Ukrainian combat activity.

“Kyiv is now trying to seize the initiative on a ceasefire to talk about expanding the time frame and targets,” Putin said.

Initially, Ukraine was hesitant to join the unilateral ceasefire. Putin did not rule out the possibility that the “Western curators of the Ukrainian regime” advised them against rejecting the Easter ceasefire proposed by Russia.

Nevertheless, Russia welcomes any ceasefire and is ready to look to the future, he said. “We will learn lessons from the results of the Easter truce.” Putin said he was studying Ukraine’s offer of a moratorium on strikes at civilian targets, but they were being used by Kyiv for military purposes.

He recalled that Sumy Congress Hall struck by Russian missiles was being used to award servicemen “who had committed war crimes” against civilians in Russia’s Kursk region, while in the port city, a missile test was being carried out in a civilian area. PTI VS ZH ZH