Fighting continues in Ukraine as Russian Orthodox Christmas truce arrives

By: News Team

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Fighting continues in Ukraine as Russian Orthodox Christmas truce arrives

Russia and Ukraine attacked each other positions in eastern Ukraine on Friday without signaling that they will respect the 36-hour ceasefire unilaterally ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on short notice to celebrate Orthodox Christmas in the region.

On Friday morning, Christmas Eve for Russians and many Ukrainians, Russian shells hit Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian city near the front line in the industrial region of Donetsk that Russia claims as its territory, the city’s mayor said.

“Kramatorsk is under fire. Stay in the shelters,” Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko posted on social media. He gave no details of the damage.

The Kremlin had ordered the truce to begin at 1200 a.m., without specifying which time zone it was referring to. In Moscow, it would be 0900 GMT.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble. Ukraine has pushed Russia back from some of its territory, but battles are raging in eastern and southern cities, and Russia has unleashed barrages of air strikes on civilian infrastructure.

In an unexpected last-minute announcement, Putin on Thursday unilaterally ordered his troops to respect a ceasefire starting Friday and during Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas, a move that was rejected as a stunt by Ukraine and its allies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flatly rejected the idea, saying the aim was to halt the advance of Ukrainian forces in Donetsk and the eastern Donbass region and attract more forces from Moscow.

“Now they want to use Christmas as a cover, albeit briefly, to stop the advances of our boys in the Donbass and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized troops to our positions,” Zelenskiy said in his video speech Thursday night.

“What will that bring them? Just another increase in their total losses.”

Ukraine’s military staff said its soldiers repelled multiple Russian attacks in the past day, with Moscow focused on trying to take cities in Donetsk, including Bakhmut, which has been the scene of the most intense battles in recent weeks.

“The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on attempts to establish control over the Donetsk region” without success, the General Staff said in a statement, adding that both Ukraine and Russia had launched multiple airstrikes in the past day.

Reuters could not independently verify the latest reports on the battlefield.

US President Joe Biden suggested Putin’s ceasefire offer was a sign of desperation. “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen,” he told reporters at the White House.

Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, responded on Facebook saying: “Washington is determined to fight with us ‘every last Ukrainian.'”

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7.

Ukraine’s main Orthodox Church has been recognized as independent by the church hierarchy since 2019 and rejects any notion of loyalty to the patriarch of Moscow. Many Ukrainian believers have changed their calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25 as in the West.

Zelenskiy, speaking deliberately in Russian rather than Ukrainian, said ending the war meant “ending your country’s aggression … And the war will end when their soldiers leave or we kick them out.”

Dmitri Polianski, head of Russia’s permanent mission to the United Nations, wrote on Twitter that Kiev’s reaction was “yet another reminder of who we are fighting in Ukraine: ruthless nationalist criminals who (…) They have no respect for sacred things.”

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