Kyiv Rejects Putin’s ‘Trivial’ Christmas Truce

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defence minister to impose a 36-hour ceasefire on the Ukrainian frontline, beginning on Friday.

The ceasefire, scheduled to start at 12:00 Moscow time (09:00 GMT), will coincide with the Russian Orthodox Christmas.

Mr Putin asked Ukraine to reciprocate, but Kyiv quickly rejected the request.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said “the truce was an attempt to stop his country’s military advances.”

The Kremlin statement appeared to stress that President Putin ordered his troops to stop fighting not because he was de-escalating – Putin never de-escalates – but because he had listened to an appeal from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Kirill had, earlier in the day, called for a Christmas truce “to allow believers to attend church services for Orthodox Christmas.”

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Day on 7 January, according to the Julian calendar.

A Kremlin statement said: “Taking into consideration the appeal by [Kirill], the president hereby instructs the minister of defence of the Russian Federation to impose a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact in Ukraine” for the 36-hour period.

Mr Putin’s order called on Ukraine to reciprocate so that the “large numbers of Orthodox believers [who] reside in areas where hostilities are taking place” could celebrate Christmas Eve on Friday and Christmas Day on Saturday.

In his nightly video address, Ukraine’s President Zelensky said that Russia wanted to use the truce as a cover to stop Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbas region and bring in more men and equipment.

“What will that give them? Only yet another increase in their total losses,” he added.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, said Moscow repeatedly ignored President Zelensky’s propositions for peace. He pointed to Russia’s shelling of Kherson on Christmas Eve and strikes on New Year’s Eve as evidence of Moscow’s inability to cease hostilities during religious holidays.

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq