Ukraine's Zelenskiy says Russian army 'trying to create impression' of Easter ceasefire

(Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said connected Sunday that the Russian service is making a pretence of an Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, continuing overnight attempts to inflict front-line losses connected Ukraine.

"In general, arsenic of Easter morning, we tin accidental that the Russian service is trying to make a wide content of a ceasefire, but successful immoderate places it does not wantonness idiosyncratic attempts to beforehand and inflict losses connected Ukraine," Zelenskiy said successful a station connected societal media.

Putin, hours earlier heading to an Orthodox Easter work precocious connected Saturday, announced the astonishment one-day ceasefire, ordering his forces to "stop each subject activity" on the beforehand enactment successful the three-year-old war.

The motion followed a U.S. announcement that it could wantonness bid talks wrong days unless Moscow and Kyiv showed they were superior astir negotiating.

Fighting was to halt from 6 p.m. Moscow clip (1500 GMT) connected Saturday until midnight connected Sunday night, Putin said.

But Zelenskiy said determination had been hundreds of instances of shelling connected Saturday evening. Early connected Sunday, Ukrainian forces reported 59 instances of shelling and 5 battle attempts on the beforehand line, helium said.

"Russia indispensable afloat comply with the conditions of silence," Zelenskiy said.

He reiterated that Kyiv was consenting to widen the ceasefire for 30 days but said that if Russia kept warring connected Sunday, truthful would Ukraine.

"Ukraine volition proceed to enactment successful a reflector manner," helium said.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly successful Melbourne; Editing by William Mallard)