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Ukraine says Russian attacks continue after Putin declares ceasefire

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Ukraine says Russian attacks continue after Putin declares ceasefire

Ukraine said Russian attacks were continuing after Vladimir Putin ordered his army to suspend combat operations in Ukraine over the Easter holiday this weekend.

Putin declared a unilateral 30-hour “Easter ceasefire” for “humanitarian reasons” on Saturday in a meeting with Valery Gerasimov, his top military officer, according to footage published by the Kremlin. The truce took place at 6pm Moscow time on Saturday and was due to end at midnight on Sunday.

The halt, which comes a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to end peacemaking efforts in Ukraine if quick progress was not made, was the second time Putin has declared a full suspension of hostilities since ordering the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

Putin announced a similar truce to mark the Orthodox Christmas in January 2023, which Ukraine claimed was a ploy to stop its advances against Russian forces.

Minutes after Putin’s announcement, air raid alerts blared across several regions across Ukraine as well as in the capital Kyiv, where air defences opened fire on incoming missiles and drones, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian air force.

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“As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives — at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine. At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies” Zelenskyy said, following a report from Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.

He added: “Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude towards Easter and towards human life.”

Later on Saturday, a senior Ukrainian official said that Kyiv’s forces on the frontline had been ordered to halt all offensive fire and respond only in kind to Russian attacks. 

“The frontline is much quieter now,” said the official. However, he added, Russian attacks had not stopped, and Kyiv’s troops were still facing an onslaught of Russian fire.

“Russian assault operations continue on several frontline sectors, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided,” Zelenskyy said, adding that his troops would respond “in kind”.

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“There is no trust in words coming from Moscow. We know all too well how Moscow manipulates, and we are prepared for anything,” he added. “Every Russian strike will be met with an appropriate response. 

While Kyiv has agreed to Trump’s proposal of a 30-day ceasefire, Putin has refused to back away from his maximalist demands for ending the war.

“Putin has now made statements about his alleged readiness for a ceasefire. 30 hours instead of 30 days,” foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said on Saturday after Putin’s announcement. “Unfortunately, we have had a long history of his statements not matching his actions.”

Zelenskyy said that if Russia is “now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence” Ukraine would “act accordingly — mirroring Russia’s actions.”

“Silence in response to silence, defensive strikes in response to attacks. If a complete ceasefire truly takes hold, Ukraine proposes extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20,” he said. “That is what will reveal Russia’s true intentions — because 30 hours is enough to make headlines, but not for genuine confidence-building measures.”

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“Thirty days could give peace a chance.”

Both sides have accused each other of repeatedly violating a moratorium on energy strikes brokered by the US in March. Russia also said it would not sign up to a similar agreement on maritime security in the Black Sea unless a number of western sanctions were repealed.

Putin said Russia expected Ukraine to “follow our example” but told Gerasimov he wanted his forces to be “prepared to repel any ceasefire violations, provocations and aggressive actions by the enemy”.

He thanked Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Brics nations for their efforts to find a settlement to the war in Ukraine and said the ceasefire would show whether Kyiv was serious about “participating in peace negotiations aimed at resolving the initial reasons for the Ukrainian crisis”.

Putin’s stated conditions for ending the war include Ukraine surrendering four partially occupied southeastern regions to Russia and, in effect, ceasing to exist as an independent state.

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Russia has also demanded that Nato roll back almost all of its deployments east of the Berlin Wall as part of a deal, which would rewrite the post-Cold War security order.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces continued their fight to hold on to a shrinking swatch of land inside Russia’s Kursk region. Citing a report from Syrsky, the president said that Kyiv’s troops had also “advanced and expanded our zone of control” in the neighbouring Russian region of Belgorod.

Shortly before Putin’s ceasefire announcement, Russia and Ukraine carried out one of the largest exchanges of prisoners of war since the start of Moscow’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Zelenskyy said that 277 Ukrainian troops had been returned following a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

He added that 4,552 Ukrainian soldiers had been freed from Russian captivity since the start of the invasion.

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

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Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

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Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

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A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

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When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

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