Newsman: Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed his country’s defense minister to order a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas. But But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected Russia’s calls for a cease-fire on Orthodox Christmas.
Russia’s ceasefire begins for 36 hours at noon on Jan. 6. Orthodox Christmas is traditionally celebrated by many on Jan. 6 and 7.
According to the Kremlin’s press service, Putin made the announcement in response to an earlier call by the leader of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, for guns to go silent over the Orthodox holiday.
“Due to the fact that a large number of citizens of the Orthodox faith live in several areas of the conflict zone, we call on the Ukrainian side to observe a ceasefire and allow them to visit Christmas Eve services, as well as those on the day of the birth of Christ,” said a statement posted to the Kremlin website.
Patriarch Kirill has been an avid supporter of the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine — including telling Russian soldiers that dying for the cause would “wash away all sins.” His support of the Russian military has divided the world Orthodox faithful.
In a call with Putin earlier in the day, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the Russian leader to implement a unilateral cease-fire to support efforts to end the war. In response, Putin repeated Russian demands that Ukraine accept Moscow’s recent annexation of four regions of Ukraine before “serious dialogue” could begin, according to a Kremlin readout of the exchange.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Russia’s calls for a cease-fire pointing to times that the Kremlin’s army failed to grant Ukraine such a time of respite.
In Washington, President Biden told reporters, “I’m reluctant to respond to anything Putin says. And I found it interesting. He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Year’s. And, I mean, I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”
In May, the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church formally broke with the Moscow Patriarch over his open support of the war — a move that Ukrainian officials noted in condemning the cease-fire offer.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, “Our concern … is that the Russians would seek to use any temporary pause in fighting to rest, to refit, to regroup and ultimately to re-attack and so in that sense, it can’t be considered a cease-fire if the intent is to train their fire with even more vengeance, with even more ferocity, with even more lethality against the people of Ukraine. If Russia were truly serious about peace, about ending this war, it would withdraw its forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine. That is what constitutes an end to this war.”
The White House announced Thursday that the U.S. will send Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, and Germany will send Marder infantry fighting vehicles plus an additional Patriot air defense battery.
