Ukraine dismisses Putin’s Christmas ceasefire as ‘hypocrisy’

Kyiv and its allies dismiss a 36-hour ceasefire to mark Orthodox Christmas, saying there won’t be a truce until invading forces are removed from occupied land.

Putin’s directive to his troops was announced days after Moscow suffered its deadliest reported loss of the invasion. Picture: AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to run during Orthodox Christmas, a move quickly dismissed by war-battered Kyiv and its allies.

Putin’s directive to his troops was announced days after Moscow suffered its deadliest reported loss of the invasion, and as Ukraine’s supporters pledged to send armoured vehicles and a second Patriot air defence battery to aid Kyiv.

Both nations celebrate Orthodox Christmas and the Russian leader’s order came following ceasefire calls from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill, a staunch Putin supporter.

“Taking into account the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the defence minister of the Russian Federation to introduce... a ceasefire along the entire line of contact between the sides in Ukraine,” said a Kremlin statement.

It will run from midday Friday (0900 GMT), until the end of Saturday (2100 GMT), the Kremlin said.

Kyiv quickly denounced the move.

Russia “must leave the occupied territories -- only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’,” Ukrainian presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “Keep hypocrisy to yourself.”

First. Ukraine doesn't attack foreign territory & doesn't kill civilians. As RF does. Ukraine destroys only members of the occupation army on its territory...
Second. RF must leave the occupied territories - only then will it have a "temporary truce". Keep hypocrisy to yourself.

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) January 5, 2023

More. Maybe Russians don’t understand human language. I offer Putin/Gundyaev/others to return to Dec 25 or the night of Dec 31 to Jan 1 and, under the howl of missiles & drones flying to kill Ukrainians, discuss the “Christmas truce”. In the bloody scenery so dear to their hearts

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) January 5, 2023

US President Joe Biden was equally dismissive of Putin’s announcement. “He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches” on December 25 and on New Year’s Day, he said. “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.” And German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on Twitter: “A so-called ceasefire brings neither freedom nor security to people living in daily fear under Russian occupation.”

Orthodox Christmas

Since the invasion began on February 24 last year, Russia has occupied parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Kyiv has reclaimed swathes of its territory and this week claimed a New Year’s strike that killed scores of Moscow’s troops.

After votes that were internationally branded as farces, Russia annexed the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions -- despite not fully controlling them.

Putin is open to dialogue with Ukraine if Kyiv recognises “the new territorial realities”, said the Kremlin, in a summary of his telephone conversation with Erdogan Thursday.

“The Russian side emphasised the destructive role of Western states, pumping the Kyiv regime with weapons and military equipment, providing it with operational information and targets,” it added.

The 76-year-old Patriarch Kirill has given his blessing to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and delivered heavily anti-Western and anti-Kyiv sermons throughout the conflict.

Kirill made his ceasefire appeal “so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and on the day of the Nativity of Christ”, he said on the church’s official website Thursday.

Russian Patriarch Kirill made his ceasefire appeal “so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and on the day of the Nativity of Christ”. picture: AFP

The Kremlin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine resulted in many clerics who had continued to remain loyal to Kirill turning away from Moscow.

In May, the Moscow-backed branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church severed ties with Russia, citing his lack of condemnation of the fighting.

More arms for Ukraine

News of Putin’s ceasefire order came as Germany and the United States pledged to provide additional military aid for Kyiv, with Biden saying the promised equipment comes at a “critical point” in the war.

Washington and Berlin said in a joint statement that they will respectively provide Kyiv with Bradley and Marder infantry fighting vehicles.

US President Joe Biden was equally dismissive of Putin’s announcement, claiming “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.” Picture: AFP

And “Germany will join the United States in supplying an additional Patriot air defence battery to Ukraine,” the statement said, doubling the number of the advanced systems that have been promised to Kyiv.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced renewed calls to deliver Leopard light tanks, long sought by Kyiv, after French President Emmanuel Macron announced the delivery of French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks to Ukraine.

Macron’s announcement on Wednesday made France the first Western country to announce the delivery of such weapons to Ukraine.

The two leaders said that the United States will supply Bradleys -- which usually come armed with 25 mm autocannon, a 7.62 mm machinegun and antitank missiles -- and Germany will send Marder armoured vehicles, with each country offering training.

Biden and Scholz “reaffirmed their unwavering solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s aggression,” a joint statement said.

The Pentagon and State Department said that the armoured vehicles would be part of a larger package of military assistance announced over the coming day.

While the armoured vehicles being sent are not tanks, the Bradleys provide “a level of firepower and armour that will bring advantages on the battlefield,” Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said.

“It’s not a tank, but it’s a tank killer,” Ryder told reporters. “We’re confident that it will aid them on the battlefield,” he said. The United States could train Ukrainian forces on the Patriot system inside the United States.

“We’re exploring a variety of options to include potential training here in the US, overseas or a combination of both,” Ryder said.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the transfer of armoured vehicles was approved due to changing realities in the nearly one-year-old war, where the front lines now include the eastern Donbas region after Russia failed to seize the capital Kyiv.

The United States is providing Ukrainians with “what they need to defend themselves, based in large part on where the battle is now,” Price told reporters.

“Now that we are seeing fronts emerge and intensify in various parts including in the Donbas,” Price said, “there are certain systems including these fighting vehicles that the Ukrainians have requested and that we deem are appropriate to provide.” Germany’s shipment of a Patriot system follows a similar announcement by the United States two weeks ago during a visit to Washington by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has long pushed for heavier weaponry, including tanks, that would allow it to go on the offensive. Western nations have been reluctant to send them, citing fears of becoming drawn into the war or provoking Russia.

But the Ukrainians have built momentum and Western nations have been expanding the weapons they send them.

The announcement comes a day after France promised to deliver its AMX-10 RC light tanks -- a vehicle that is wheeled rather than tracked but which shares the much heavier cannon typical on a tank.

The French move put Scholz under fresh political pressure to do more to help Ukraine

Worst single loss

Putin’s ceasefire order came a day after Moscow lifted its reported toll in its worst single reported loss from a Ukrainian strike to 89 dead.

Ukraine’s military strategic communications unit has said nearly 400 Russian soldiers died in the town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine, held by pro-Russian forces. Even Russian commentators have said the death toll may be far higher than the Kremlin’s figures.

The deadly Makiivka strike came after months of discontent within Russia towards the military following a series of battlefield defeats and a hugely unpopular mobilisation drive.

AFP