A Russian truce, decreed by Vladimir Putin, was to begin Friday and continue this Saturday for Orthodox Christmas. However, shooting from both sides of the front was noted, which Russia denies.
The Russian army ensures this Saturday that it intends to continue to observe until the end of the day the unilateral ceasefire decreed by Vladimir Putin on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, despite gunfire. Ukrainian artillery.
“Despite the artillery fire of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on populated areas and Russian positions, the application of the announced ceasefire regime will be continued by Russian troops until midnight (according to Russian time, i.e. 10 p.m., French time, editor’s note), “said the Russian Ministry of Defense in its daily report.
Russia claimed to have repelled attacks or responded to Ukrainian fire in several places on the front, inflicting casualties on its adversary.
Two dead in Bakhmout, according to Ukrainian justice
Journalists present in Chassiv Iar, in eastern Ukraine, observed sustained bombardments throughout the morning.
In Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting further north, AFP journalists had already heard artillery duels on both sides of the front on Friday, in the hours following the establishment of the unilateral ceasefire. by Russia. However, these shots were of less intensity compared to the previous days.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, two people were killed and 13 injured in Bakhmut on Friday, in a city largely destroyed by fighting and where both sides face heavy losses.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, Russian troops also shelled the Kherson region (south) on Friday, killing a rescue worker and injuring seven others
An “act of propaganda” for kyiv
However, the Russian president had decreed a 36-hour truce on Thursday “along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine” to the men of the Moscow army. A first since the start of the conflict last February.
This ceasefire should officially allow Ukrainians of the Orthodox faith to go to church to celebrate Christmas, traditionally celebrated on January 7 in this faith.
Ukraine, however, questioned the sincerity of the Russian initiative, seeing it as an “act of propaganda”. This is an “apology with the aim of at least stopping the advance of our troops in the Donbass”, argued President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Paris, for its part, saw it as a “gross attempt on the part of Russia to hide its responsibility, while it continues to multiply atrocities and relentlessly bombard the entire Ukrainian territory”.
