Kyiv, half of Ukraine under air-raid alerts hours after one-day Russia ceasefire ends

Ukraine issues air raid alerts as ceasefire ends, with Kyiv and Moscow accusing each other of violations.

Ukraine issued air raid alerts for Kyiv and the country's eastern half as blasts shook the city of Mykolaiv early on Monday, authorities said, hours after the one-day Easter ceasefire declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin came to an end.

Both Kyiv and Moscow had accused each other of thousands of attacks that violated the truce that the Kremlin indicated on Sunday would not be extended.

Washington said it would welcome an extension of the truce, and President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated several times Ukraine's willingness to pause strikes for 30 days in the war.

But Mr. Putin, who launched Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and who ordered on Saturday the halt in all military activity along the front line until midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT) on Sunday, did not give orders to extend it.

"There were no other commands," Russia's TASS state news agency cited Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying when asked whether the ceasefire could be prolonged.

Some regions in eastern Ukraine were under air raid alerts starting minutes after midnight on Monday, according to data from the Ukrainian air force, with the alerts gradually extending towards the central regions of the country.

"We urge city residents to immediately go to the nearest shelters and remain there until the alert is over," Kyiv's military administration said in a social media post at 04:41 a.m. local time (0141 GMT).