Kyiv, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered Moscow’s armed forces to carry a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Russian Orthodox Christmas vacation, the Kremlin mentioned. The Kremlin mentioned the order, which was shortly dismissed by Ukraine, was in response to a proposal by the top of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, earlier within the day, which was additionally dismissed by an official within the Ukrainian presidential workplace as propaganda.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak referred to as the Kremlin’s announcement declaring a cease-fire “hypocrisy,” including that Russia “must leave the occupied territories — only then will it have a ‘temporary truce.'”
“Keep hypocrisy to yourself,” he wrote on Twitter.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, mentioned the Kremlin’s assertion was “a sign that Putin and his army are getting weaker,” including that the Russian chief was looking forward to “any pause in the destruction of his soldiers and equipment.”
“Any truce or cease-fire are only possible after Russia leaves Ukrainian territory completely, incl. Crimea,” Gerashchenko added in his tweet.
In his order, which was addressed to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and printed on the Kremlin’s web site, Putin was quoted as saying: “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.”
In response to a query from CBS News’ Pamela Falk at United Nations headquarters, Ukraine’s U.N Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya mentioned, “nobody trusts Putin’s words; everyone has already learned it well that deception is the essence of the dictator’s actions.”
He once more alluded to hypocrisy, noting that Putin had referred to as for a cease-fire after launching a “barrage of missile strikes and drone attacks during the Christmas and the new year holidays.”
Earlier on Friday, Kirill had advised a truce from midday Friday by means of midnight Saturday, native time. The Russian Orthodox Church, which makes use of the traditional Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on January 7 — later than the Gregorian calendar — though some Christians in Ukraine additionally mark the vacation on that date.
Podolyak dismissed Kirill’s name as “a cynical trap and an element of propaganda.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had proposed a Russian troop withdrawal earlier, earlier than December 25, however Russia rejected that.
Russia has beforehand mentioned it’s prepared for a “dialogue” with Ukraine — a declare reiterated in a Thursday name between Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has performed a mediating position between warring sides.
But the Moscow-proposed dialogue comes with an already acquainted set of calls for that Ukraine deems non-starters, specifically the popularity of illegally annexed territories: Crimea in 2014, and the 4 jap Ukrainian areas that Putin tried to grab following staged referendums within the fall of 2022.
Erdogan additionally instructed Zelenskyy later by phone that Turkey was able to mediate a “lasting peace.” Erdogan has made such a suggestion ceaselessly. It has already helped dealer a deal permitting Ukraine to export thousands and thousands of tons of grain, and it has facilitated a prisoner swap.
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Military consultants have beforehand warned that Moscow may suggest a truce or negotiations to purchase time for Russia’s beleaguered forces to regroup and relaxation.
“The Christmas cease-fire fits perfectly into Putin’s logic, where Russia is acting on the bright side of history and fighting for justice,” Russian political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya wrote on her Telegram weblog. “But overall it is quite weird to declare a cease-fire when you are in the defensive position.”