Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (January 5th) ordered his forces to apply a ceasefire in Ukraine on January 6th and 7th on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, after a request to this effect from Patriarch Kirill, indicated the Kremlin.
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“In view of the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the Russian Minister of Defense to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine from 12 p.m. January 6 of this year until [minuit] January 7”he said in Kremlin statement.
The Russian president also called on the Ukrainian forces to respect this truce in order to give the possibility to the Orthodox, the majority faith in Ukraine as in Russia, “to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the day of the Nativity of Christ”.
“Keep your hypocrisy to yourself”
This call was immediately swept away by the adviser to the Ukrainian presidency Mykhaïlo Podoliak, who castigated on Twitter this Thursday, a possible truce. “Russia must leave the occupied territories – only then will it have a ‘temporary truce'”he wrote.
“Ukraine does not attack foreign territory or kill civilians. As does Russia. Ukraine only destroys members of the occupying army on its territory…”, he explained. Before concluding with a laconic: “Keep your hypocrisy to yourself. »
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In a separate message to the press, Mykhaïlo Podoliak described this ceasefire as “pure act of propaganda”. “Russia is trying by all means to at least temporarily reduce the intensity of the fighting and the strikes on its logistics centers in order to gain time”he continued.
He accused Vladimir Putin of not having “the slightest desire to end the war” and try to “convince the Europeans to put pressure on” kyiv with a view to peace negotiations, which Ukraine has refused for months. “There is no need to respond to the deliberately manipulative initiatives of the Russian leadership”he said again.
