Despite the unilateral cease-fire ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the Russian army said it responded to Ukrainian attacks during the orthodox Christmas celebrations.
“All positions of the Ukrainian army from which the shelling was fired were crushed by Russian forces returning fire,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
There were combat operations in the Donetsk, Cherson and Zaporizhia regions. Regardless, Konashenkov claimed Russia is adhering to the self-imposed 36-hour ceasefire, which was officially due to end at 10:00 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
Putin announced the temporary ceasefire on Thursday, citing the Christmas festival that many Orthodox Christians celebrate on January 7th. Ukraine, however, rejected this as a hypocritical propaganda gesture and continued its attempts at reconquest. There can be no peace as long as Russian troops occupy Ukrainian territory, sources in Kyiv said.
Many international observers also doubted from the start that the Russian arms would really remain silent. According to estimates by British intelligence services, the fighting continued at the usual level during the orthodox Christmas period. (dpa)
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