The effect of Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering his soldiers in Ukraine to observe a unilateral 36-hour cease-fire was questioned on Friday after authorities in Kyiv called the action a “trick” and “hypocrisy,” but they did not say if Ukrainian troops would comply. After the cease-fire was meant to have started, journalists from the French news agency AFP in Bakhmut, a city on the battle lines, reported hearing both outgoing and incoming gunfire.
Moscow had not said explicitly whether it would respond if Ukrainian soldiers persisted in combat, as the Russian military had accused them of doing. Despite the Russian Federation’s announcement of a cease-fire, Ukrainian military “kept shelling villages and positions of Russian troops,” a Ministry of Defense spokesman stated Friday during a daily briefing.
At noon local time on Friday, the Russian-declared unilateral cease-fire in the conflict that lasted over 11 months would have started. According to the Kremlin, the cease-fire would last until Saturday at midnight.
About 40 minutes after the Russian cease-fire was scheduled to start, air raid sirens went off in Kyiv, but no explosions were heard. Sirens could be heard screaming all around the nation, according to the popular Alerts in Ukraine app, which also incorporates information from emergency services.
Unexpectedly, Putin said on Thursday that the Kremlin’s soldiers will cease hostilities along the 684-mile front line and elsewhere. It happened after Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, suggested a truce for this weekend’s Orthodox Christmas holiday. The Julian calendar is used by the Orthodox Church, which observes Christmas on January 7.
Putin’s seeming humanitarian gesture, however, was seen by Ukrainian and Western authorities as having a hidden agenda. They saw the declaration as an effort by Putin to seize the moral high ground while perhaps attempting to seize the initiative on the battlefield and deprive the Ukrainians of momentum during their recent counteroffensive.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, questioned the Kremlin’s motivations and said that the Kremlin had planned the cease-fire “to restart the conflict with increased zeal.”
Zelenskyy said late on Thursday that the enemy now intended to exploit Christmas as a pretext in order to temporarily halt our troops’ advance in the (eastern) Donbas (area) and transfer supplies, troops, and other resources closer to our lines.
But he refrained from saying outright that Kiev will refuse Putin’s demand.
Zelenskyy’s caution was echoed by Vice President Joe Biden of the United States, who said it was “interesting” that Putin was prepared to destroy hospitals, daycare centers, and churches on Christmas and New Year’s.
Mr. Biden said simply, “I believe (Putin) is trying to get some air.”
Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, said Moscow had “no trust in the objectives underlying this declaration” and that it had “given us no reason to believe anything that they say at its value.”
He said that the declaration of a ceasefire was an attempt “to relax, refit, reorganize, and eventually reattack.”
The ceasefire could just be a deception to give Russia time to reorganize, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
The research group said late on Thursday that such a delay “would disproportionately advantage Russian soldiers and start to rob Ukraine of the initiative.” Putin may have called for the cease-fire to portray Ukraine as uncooperative and reluctant to make the required preparations for discussions by saying that it is unreasonable to expect Ukraine to abide by the conditions of this abruptly proclaimed cease-fire.
Washington claims it is ready to continue supporting Ukraine’s military endeavors. The United States was scheduled to unveil roughly $3 billion in military assistance for Ukraine on Friday. This significant new package was anticipated to include several dozen Bradley combat vehicles for the first time.
By the end of March, Germany also intends to deploy armored personnel carriers.
Despite the holiday atmosphere, there were no indicators that the hostility between the warring parties would lessen.
The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called those who rejected Putin’s call for a Christmas ceasefire “clowns” and “pigs.”
He said on Telegram that “the hand of Christian kindness was extended to the Ukrainians.” Pigs, however, lack both religion and a fundamental feeling of thankfulness.
Some city dwellers claimed to speak from painful experience when they cast doubt on Russia’s intentions.
Vasyl Kuzmenko, a nearby resident, said that “everyone is ready (for an assault) since everyone recalls what occurred on the new year when there were roughly 40 Shahed (Iranian drones). But everything is conceivable.
Pope Francis said at the Vatican that he was wishing “the Eastern churches, both the Catholic and the Orthodox ones, that tomorrow will celebrate the birth of the Lord” from the bottom of his heart.
Francis addressed the throngs of worshippers gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Friday for the church’s Epiphany feast day by saying, “I particularly want my request to be heard by the brothers and sisters of martyred Ukraine. May the Savior’s birth provide solace, inspire hope, and motivate actionable efforts that will eventually put a stop to the warring and promote peace.”
According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy director of the Ukrainian presidential office, Russian assaults on Thursday resulted in the deaths of nine civilians and the injuries of an additional 11 people.
Tymoshenko reported one civilian fatality and three civilian injuries in the country’s eastern Donetsk province, where Russia has begun a grueling onslaught, while one civilian injury was reported in the nearby northeastern Kharkiv province, according to information from regional authorities.
Attacks in the southern Kherson province resulted in six fatalities and four injuries, as well as two fatalities and three injuries in the southeast Zaporizhzhia province.
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