Putin orders ceasefire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas

Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas after an appeal from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a step Ukraine had earlier dismissed as a cynical trap.

Putin ordered the 36-hour ceasefire would begin at noon on Friday, the Kremlin said. Many Orthodox Christians, including those living in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas on January 6-7.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow called earlier on Thursday for both sides of the war in Ukraine to observe a Christmas truce.

“Taking into account the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the minister of defence of the Russian Federation to introduce a ceasefire regime,” that will run from midday on January 6 to midnight, January 7, Putin said.

“We call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and allow them to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day,” Putin said.

Ukraine earlier dismissed Kirill’s appeal, though there was no immediate reaction to Putin’s announcement.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, cast the Russian Orthodox Church as a “war propagandist” that had incited the “mass murder” of Ukrainians and the militarisation of Russia.

“The statement of the Russian Orthodox Church about the ‘Christmas Truce’ is a cynical trap and an element of propaganda,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Putin in a phone call that peace efforts in Ukraine should be supported by a “unilateral ceasefire and a vision for a fair solution”.

Reuters