Ukraine war: Zelensky rejects Putin’s temporary ceasefire offer
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defence minister to impose a 36-hour ceasefire on the Ukrainian frontline, beginning on Friday.
The ceasefire, scheduled to start at 12:00 Moscow time (09:00 GMT), will coincide with the Russian Orthodox Christmas.
According to the BBC.com, Putin asked Ukraine to reciprocate, but Kyiv quickly rejected the request.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the truce was an attempt to stop his country’s military advances.
The Kremlin statement appeared to stress that President Putin ordered his troops to stop fighting not because he was de-escalating – Putin never de-escalates – but because he had listened to an appeal from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Patriarch Kirill had, earlier in the day, called for a Christmas truce to allow believers to attend services for Orthodox Christmas.
Mr Putin’s order called on Ukraine to reciprocate so that the “large numbers of Orthodox believers [who] reside in areas where hostilities are taking place” could celebrate Christmas Eve on Friday and Christmas Day on Saturday.
But in his nightly video address, President Zelensky said that Russia wanted to use the truce as a cover to stop Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbas region and bring in more men and equipment.
The Russian Orthodox Church – the largest of the Eastern Orthodox Churches – celebrates Christmas Day on 7 January, according to the Julian calendar.
Some people in Ukraine celebrate Christmas on 25 December, others on 7 January. Both days are public holidays in the country.
This year, for the first time, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said it would allow its congregations to celebrate Christmas on 25 December, as do some other denominations in western Ukraine.
The Church split with the similarly named Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in 2018.
The UOC itself was tied to Moscow’s religious leadership until Russia’s invasion, and some of its top clergy have been accused of still covertly supporting Moscow.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, said Moscow had repeatedly ignored President Zelensky’s propositions for peace. He pointed to Russia’s shelling of Kherson on 24 December and strikes on New Year’s Eve as evidence of Moscow’s inability to cease hostilities during religious holidays.
US President Joe Biden believes Mr Putin was simply “trying to find some oxygen”.
