Russia and Ukraine blame each other as fighting continues despite Moscow’s truce

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Saturday that fighting had been taking place in four regions of Ukraine despite this week’s unilateral ceasefire by Moscow, saying its troops had been forced to respond to Ukrainian attacks.

Ukraine says Russia has continued to attack it and has called the ceasefire a farce. It did not join the truce but is calling instead for a 30-day ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump is urging the warring sides to agree.

Reuters could not verify battlefield accounts by either side. The 72-hour ceasefire, declared by President Vladimir Putin to mark the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, expires at midnight (2100 GMT) on Saturday.

In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said its forces were sticking to the ceasefire – which Ukraine denies – and remaining at previously occupied lines, but that they were retaliating against “violations” by Ukraine.

It alleged that Kyiv’s forces had mounted attacks in the Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine and near 12 different settlements in Donetsk region, which it said Russian troops had repelled.

A wounded Ukrainian soldier at a field hospital in Zaporizhzhia region told Reuters on Friday night that “there hasn’t been any ceasefire” and nothing had changed. “Shelling has continued just as before, drones are flying just like before,” he said.

The Russian statement also said that Ukraine had tried four times to break across the border into Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, but did not specify when the alleged attempted incursions had taken place.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Louise Heavens)