Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service.
I'm Celia Hatton and I'm coming to you live from our studio in central London.
And we begin this edition of NewsHour on what's meant to be a hopeful day for Christians.
Easter Sunday, a day of rebirth.
But for those on either side of the Ukrainian conflict,
the possibility of hope that a brief ceasefire might last appears to be dimming by the hour.
On Saturday, Russia's leader Vladimir Putin made a surprise announcement.
His troops, he said, would lay down their weapons for 30 hours in an apparent Easter truce.
Kiev agreed, though Ukraine's leader pushed for a 30-day ceasefire.
That certainly seems like wishful thinking at this point.
We can now see that even a brief truce hasn't held.
Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian shelling and assaults have continued in several places on the front line in Ukraine.
He said Moscow was trying to create the impression of a ceasefire,
but was still trying to advance in some places.
People who gathered outside a cathedral in Kiev for the Easter prayer said they didn't believe anything Mr. Putin said.
Yesterday, after Putin said about the Easter ceasefire,
there was explosions caused by ballistic missiles.
It was right after the ceasefire was announced.
What kind of ceasefire is that?
He lied as he always did.