Russia says implementing 36-hour truce in Ukraine despite Kiev attacks

Russia says its forces continue to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine, despite artillery attacks by Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine.

Russia unilaterally declared a 36- hour truce from midday Friday until the end of Saturday (2100 GMT) in Ukraine to mark Orthodox Christmas.

"Despite the shelling of the armed forces of Ukraine of settlements and Russian positions, the implementation of the declared ceasefire will be continued," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. It said over the past 24 hours, Russian forces had repelled a number of attacks by the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine and killed dozens of its troops.

Kiev dismissed the ceasefire as a "cynical" ploy designed to give Russian forces the chance to rest and re-arm.

Meanwhile, exchanges of artillery fire were reported along the front lines of Ukraine’s city of Bakhmut, the town of Kreminna, and other locations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Friday.

Putin says ready for talks, orders truce; Ukraine rejects both

President Putin says Russia is ready for a serious dialog with Ukraine as he orders a 36-hour ceasefire over Orthodox Christmas. Kiev dismisses the offers as hypocrisy and propaganda.

The Russian-installed governor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol said on Saturday air defenses had shot down a drone which he said was the latest attempted Ukrainian attack on a port where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based.

The Russian Orthodox Church observes Christmas on January 7. The main Orthodox Church in Ukraine, however, has rejected the authority of Moscow and many Ukrainian believers have shifted their calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25, as in the West.

The US State Department labeled the ceasefire a ploy, and the European Union’s most senior diplomat said on Friday the ceasefire was “not credible.”

“The Kremlin totally lacks credibility and this declaration of a unilateral ceasefire is not credible,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Morocco.

And the French Foreign Ministry said the ceasefire was a “crude” attempt by Moscow to divert attention from its culpability for the war.

Russia started the “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 with the declared aim of "de-Nazifying" the country, accusing Kiev of failing to implement the terms of an earlier peace agreement with the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his government was ready for a serious dialog with Ukraine aimed at ending the war if Kiev accepts the "new territorial realities."

Ukrainian officials say they will not negotiate over territory overtaken by Russia, including the four regions that Moscow has annexed. Russia, however, says any proposal to end the war must take into account "today's realities," in reference to the annexation of the four regions.

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