"Last week was characterized by a slight decrease in combat activity during certain periods, along with various political declarations about imposing a ceasefire over Easter. However, looking at the week as a whole, the number of daily combat engagements reached as many as 150," the head of the readiness department at the Ministry of Defense Kaju said at a press conference.

According to Kaju, the most intense fighting continues in the Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka directions, followed by the Huliaipole, Lyman and Southern Slobozhansky directions.

He noted that over the past 10 days, Russian forces have advanced primarily in the Kupiansk, Sumy and Pokrovsk areas. "These advances continue to come at a heavy cost for Russian forces, which on average are losing about 150 troops per square kilometer," Kaju said.

Easter ceasefire fails to hold

The ceasefire promised for Easter, which was supposed to last from 4 p.m. on April 11 until midnight on April 12, essentially did not take effect.

"During that period, the number of combat engagements decreased somewhat, falling to 120 and 107 per day, respectively. Neither side carried out long-range strikes with drones or missiles during that time. Instead, attacks occurred at shorter ranges — in other words, combat operations continued nonetheless," Kaju said.

Between April 9 and April 15, Russia launched close to 1,000 drones and seven missiles toward Ukraine, according to Kaju. In the previous four weeks, he said, Russia had launched between 1,300 and 2,100 drones per week, plus dozens of missiles.

Energy and civilian infrastructure remain primary targets

"This calmer situation changed on April 15 and April 16, when within a 24-hour period Russia attacked Ukraine with approximately 700 drones and more than 40 missiles of various types. The targets of the air strikes continued to include the energy sector, transport, administrative and civilian infrastructure, with objects hit in around 12 Ukrainian regions. As a result of this attack, there were over 100 civilian casualties of varying severity," Kaju said.

Kaju added that Ukraine, in turn, carried out long-range strikes against Russia's fuel industry, including oil platforms in the Caspian Sea, as well as various oil and chemical industry facilities that produce components for the Russian military-industrial complex, such as explosives and related materials.

In addition, according to Kaju, last week was marked by Ukraine's announcement that, for the first time in the history of warfare, unmanned systems captured an enemy position.

Unmanned systems increasingly take on hard tasks

"This was done through coordinated use of unmanned ground and aerial systems. In this context, it is important to note that while in November 2025 the number of combat operations conducted by unmanned ground systems on Ukraine's side amounted to about 2,500, in the first three months of this year alone the number of combat tasks carried out by unmanned ground systems exceeded 24,000. Of these, around 9,000 combat operations were conducted in March," Kaju said.

"We are seeing a new trend here. The development of unmanned systems is very rapid. There is increasing integration of unmanned systems operating in different domains — in this case, both land and air. The main areas where they are being used are logistics, meaning frontline supply and evacuation of the wounded, as well as engineering tasks such as mining, obstacle emplacement and related activities, and fire support — systems that already have dedicated weapons platforms mounted on them. This trend is likely to move in the direction of unmanned systems taking on an ever greater share of dangerous combat tasks," Kaju said.

He emphasized that this does not mean the traditional soldier will disappear from the battlefield. Rather, humans will increasingly focus on tasks that machines cannot perform, while machines take over the most dangerous missions.

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