The Japan Times - Little respite in Ukraine as air strikes ring out during Russia truce

The three-day truce was announced on Friday by US President Donald Trump, just hours before Russia's World War II victory celebrations, with Trump saying he hoped the ceasefire would mark "the beginning of the end" of the conflict.

But since the ceasefire began, the two countries have traded accusations of violating it with attacks on civilians.

"This weekend my boyfriend and I were walking in the park, and there were still constant air alerts," Anastasia Rybalka, a 23-year-old IT specialist told AFP in Zaporizhzhia, a major industrial city close to the front line and a frequent target of Russian drone and missile attacks.

According to Kyiv, the Zaporizhzhia region was among those targeted by Russian drones.

"I can't say that it looked like a ceasefire," said Dmytro Zlochevsky, a 45-year-old English teacher, adding that he had "heard both explosions and shelling" outside the city.

"I think we better not count on this ceasefire turning into something bigger," Zlochevsky added.

He said it was "just a period that the aggressor state begged Trump for, in order to hold its own parade. And afterwards they will continue all their actions aimed at destroying the Ukrainian people".

Shortly after Trump announced the ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered army not to attack Russia's annual parade on Red Square. Moscow also confirmed that it had accepted the truce.

- Finally some sleep -

Since the start of Russia's invasion in 2022, several truces have been announced without leading to concrete progress.

Diplomatic efforts to restart direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow, brokered by the United States, have stalled since the war in the Middle East broke out in February.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he could see the war ending soon, without elaborating.

But Svitlana Garbuzova said she had little hope "that the war will end soon".

"It feels like we'll be living with all this for several more years", said the 24-year-old student, referring to repeated strikes and air raid alerts.

In Odesa, a major Black Sea port city, Tetiana, a 38-year-old teacher who did not give her surname, was able to finally "get some sleep, go to the sea, relax".

The city, a regular target of Russian drones, enjoyed some respite over the weekend.

"We would really like this truce to last a little longer," she said, adding that she wanted the war to end "as soon as possible".

Dmytro, a 20-year-old shop assistant, refused to celebrate the relative calm.

"Tomorrow or the day after there may be massive attacks around Ukraine," he said.

Svitlana, another Odesa resident, told AFP she felt that "there's still anxiety", even though she was able to sleep "peacefully" during the two nights of the truce.

The 68-year-old pensioner said she is originally from Donbas -- an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that Russia is trying to annex, where her "home is destroyed, burned down".

In Donbas, the epicentre of the fighting, "it was not calm at all: there were shelling, people were wounded, the destruction continues," she said with a sigh.

"Odesa felt a bit of calm, but Donbas did not."

H.Nakamura--JT