Ukraine official calls Putin's ceasefire order over Orthodox Christmas 'hypocrisy'
As President Putin orders a 36-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas - Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo has the reaction from Kyiv
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Moscow’s armed forces to hold a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday.
According to Russian officials, the order follows a proposal by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The announcement was dismissed by the Ukrainian presidential office as propaganda.
Ukrainian officials have called the order "hypocrisy" after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had proposed a Russian troop withdrawal earlier, before December 25, but Russia rejected it.
While not necessarily the final official word back from Kyiv, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Russian forces “must leave the occupied territories - only then will it have a ‘temporary truce.’ Keep hypocrisy to yourself.”
“Based on the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the combat areas, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease-fire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ,” according to Putin’s order, addressed to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and published on the Kremlin’s website.
The Russian Orthodox Church's Patriarch Kirill suggested a truce from noon on Friday through till midnight on Saturday, local time.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which uses the ancient Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on January 7 - later than the Gregorian calendar - although some Christians in Ukraine also mark the holiday on that date.
Putin spoke by phone with Turkey’s president and the Kremlin said Putin “reaffirmed Russia’s openness to a serious dialogue” with Ukrainian authorities.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Putin to implement a “unilateral cease-fire,” according to a statement from the Turkish president’s office.
Erdogan also told Zelenskyy later via telephone that Turkey was ready to mediate a “lasting peace.”
Russia's professed readiness came with the usual preconditions - referring to Moscow’s insistence that Ukraine recognise Crimea as part of Russia and acknowledge other illegal territorial gains.
Previous attempts at peace talks have fallen at that hurdle, as Ukraine demands that Russia withdraws from occupied areas at the very least.
Elsewhere, the head of NATO said he detected no change in Moscow’s stance on Ukraine, insisting that the Kremlin “wants a Europe where they can control a neighbouring country.”
“We have no indications that President Putin has changed his plans, his goals for Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Oslo.
The fighting in Ukraine has increasingly become a war of attrition in recent weeks, as winter sets in.
The ongoing intense battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut has left 60% of the city in ruins, according to Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Ukrainian defenders were holding the Russians back, but the Kremlin's forces have pummelled the city with months of relentless shelling.
Taking the city in the Donbas region, an expansive industrial area bordering Russia, would not only give Putin a major battlefield gain after months of setbacks, but it also would rupture Ukraine’s supply lines and open the way for Moscow's forces to press on toward key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk.
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