Hostilities did not cease at midnight on 7 May, when the Kremlin claimed a temporary ceasefire would begin and last until 11 May, says Victor Trehubov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s operational-strategic Khortytsia military grouping, UNIAN reports. 

The ceasefire was ostensibly declared to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the German-Soviet War. However, Trehubov reports that clashes have continued with varying intensity along the entire frontline.

“There were assaults in the Lyman and Vovchansk directions, inside Vovchansk itself, in the Kramatorsk direction — in Chasiv Yar, in the Toretsk direction — in Toretsk and Shcherbynivka, and also in the Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka sectors,” he says.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier dismissed Russia’s ceasefire declaration as another manipulation. He stressed that genuine diplomacy could only begin with an immediate and sustained ceasefire, lasting at least 30 days.

“In some parts of the front, the enemy is less active, and in others there are no clashes, but overall, there’s no ceasefire to speak of,” Trehubov emphasizes.

He adds that the so-called truce is not evident either on the front lines or in the rear.