KYIV/MOSCOW, April 12 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Sunday of breaching the 32-hour ceasefire in their four-year war, reporting more than a thousand drone and shelling attacks just hours after the truce began on Saturday to mark Orthodox Easter.
The Russian defence ministry said it recorded 1,971 ceasefire violations overnight into Sunday.
The General Staff of Ukraine's military, in a late evening report issued as the end of the truce was approaching, said it had compiled a total of 7,696 Russian violations over the course of the truce.
According to the calendar of the Orthodox faith dominant in both countries, Easter is celebrated this year on Sunday.
A soldier from Ukraine's 65th brigade fighting in Zaporizhzhia said Russian reconnaissance drones were still circling the area despite the ceasefire, blocking efforts to recover the bodies of fallen troops.
"We wanted to evacuate our fallen comrades today, but (the Russians) are not letting us do so just yet," the soldier, known by the call sign Spider, said at a candle-lit military Easter service.
Both sides continued to report what they described as violations of the ceasefire throughout the day on Sunday. The truce was due to end at midnight (2100 GMT).
The latest report by the Ukrainian General Staff said the 7,696 Russian violations noted over the course of the truce included 1,355 artillery shelling incidents, 115 assault operations and 6,226 strikes by attack drones. It said no air strikes had been recorded.
Ukraine's State Emergencies Service said two civilians were wounded on Sunday by a Russian drone attack in northeastern Kharkiv region. Police in the region later said a Russian drone had struck a car, injuring one person.
Russia said a child was among civilians injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Kursk region. The Belgorod region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported two people killed by Ukrainian shelling and several injured in other strikes through the border region.
The Russia-appointed head of the parts of southern Kherson region held by Russian forces, Vladimir Saldo, said Ukrainian troops had shelled an administrative building and a private home in two villages, without causing injuries.
Reuters could not independently verify reports of military activity.
'HUMANITARIAN GESTURE'
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday the truce was a "humanitarian gesture" from Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that Russian troops would resume fighting as soon as it ends.
"Putin has instructed the Russian military to remain on high alert in case of provocations," Peskov said.
Putin announced the temporary Orthodox Easter ceasefire on April 9. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose previous ceasefire proposals were turned down by Moscow, agreed to the truce.
(Reporting by Max Hunder in Kyiv, Serhiy Chalyi in Zaporizhzhia and other Reuters staff; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Ron Popeski and Chris Reese)
