Russia broke truce 11 times over past nine years – Ukraine's Defense Ministry

06.01.2023 18:00

Ukrinform

Over the past nine years of the war, the Russian Federation never adhered to ceasefire agreements.

According to Ukrinform, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said this in a post on Telegram.

"In total, during the Anti-Terrorist Operation, there were 11 attempts to establish a more or less stable ceasefire regime, which was agreed upon by the parties as part of the Trilateral Contact Group: from 18:00 on September 5, 2014; from 00:00 on February 15, 2015; from 00:00 on October 1, 2015; from 00:00 on April 30, 2016 (Easter truce); from 00:00 on September 1, 2016 (school truce); from 00:00 on December 24, 2016 (New Year's truce); from 00:00 on June 24, 2017 (bread truce); from 00:00 on August 25, 2017 (school truce); from 00:00 on December 23, 2017 (New Year's truce); from 00:00 on March 5, 2018; from 00:00 on March 30, 2018 (Easter truce). All of them were disrupted by the deliberate actions of the enemy," Maliar said.

For example, during the so-called "comprehensive spring truce" in 2018, during the 22 days of declared "silence," the enemy launched at least 153 attacks, during which six Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 12 were wounded.

"During the Joint Forces Operation, Ukraine negotiated a bilateral ceasefire several times. However, their results were similar to the previous ones," Maliar said.

In 2019 alone, the combat losses of the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk region amounted to 97 soldiers killed in action.

In 2020, before the start of the last, July truce, another 32 Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers were killed and 220 were wounded.

"On July 27, 2020, another 'full and comprehensive ceasefire regime' officially began. However, the enemy observed it for only half an hour. At around 00:20, they shelled units of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade. Another shelling was recorded at around 09:00," Maliar said.

From July 27, 2020 to July 27, 2021, more than 2,000 enemy attacks were recorded.

"Therefore, only the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory will mean a true ceasefire and the end of aggression," Maliar concluded.