Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to run during Orthodox Christmas, a move quickly dismissed by war-battered Kyiv and its allies.
Putin’s directive to his troops was announced days after Moscow suffered its deadliest reported loss of the invasion, and as Ukraine’s supporters pledged to send armoured vehicles and a second Patriot air defence battery to aid Kyiv.
Both nations celebrate Orthodox Christmas and the Russian leader’s order came following ceasefire calls from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill, a staunch Putin supporter.
“Taking into account the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the defence minister of the Russian Federation to introduce… a ceasefire along the entire line of contact between the sides in Ukraine,” said a Kremlin statement.
It will run from midday Friday (0900 GMT), until the end of Saturday (2100 GMT), the Kremlin said.
Kyiv quickly denounced the move.
Russia “must leave the occupied territories — only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “Keep hypocrisy to yourself.”
US President Joe Biden was equally dismissive of Putin’s announcement.
“He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches” on December 25 and on New Year’s Day, he said. “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”
And German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on Twitter: “A so-called ceasefire brings neither freedom nor security to people living in daily fear under Russian occupation.”
– Orthodox Christmas –
Since the invasion began on February 24 last year, Russia has occupied parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Kyiv has reclaimed swathes of its territory and this week claimed a New Year’s strike that killed scores of Moscow’s troops.
After votes that were internationally branded as farces, Russia annexed the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions — despite not fully controlling them.
Putin is open to dialogue with Ukraine if Kyiv recognises “the new territorial realities”, said the Kremlin, in a summary of his telephone conversation with Erdogan Thursday.
“The Russian side emphasised the destructive role of Western states, pumping the Kyiv regime with weapons and military equipment, providing it with operational information and targets,” it added.
The 76-year-old Patriarch Kirill has given his blessing to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine…
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