On Friday, Russia and Ukraine shelled each other’s positions in eastern Ukraine with little indication that they would abide by a 36-hour ceasefire that Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally announced at the last minute to honor Orthodox Christmas in the area.
On the morning of Christmas Eve when Russians and Ukrainians were preparing for the next day, Russian shells hit Kramatorsk, a city in Ukraine in the industrial Donetsk region claimed by Russia as its own territory, the city mayor said.
“Kramatorsk is under fire. Stay in shelters,” mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko warned on social media. He gave no mention of the extent or nature of the damage.
Russia had ordered the ceasefire to begin at 1200, without mentioning the time zone.
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a conflict that has since claimed thousands of lives, uprooted millions of people, and left entire cities in ruins. Russia has been pushed out of portions of Ukraine’s territory, but clashes continue over towns in the east and south, and Russia has launched a barrage of airstrikes against infrastructure that supports the civilian population.
Suddenly without a prior warning, Putin made an announcement and unilaterally ordered his forces to abide by a ceasefire to be implemented throughout the Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, a decision that Ukraine and its allies believed was a trick.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the idea out of hand, saying the goal was to halt the progress of Ukraine’s forces in Donetsk and the wider eastern Donbas region and bring in more of Moscow’s forces.
“They now want to use Christmas as a cover, albeit briefly, to stop the advances of our boys in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunition, and mobilized troops closer to our positions,” Zelenskyy said in his Thursday night video address.
“What will that give them? Only yet another increase in their total losses.”
According to the military General Staff of Ukraine, its soldiers withstood many Russian raids throughout the course of the previous day. Moscow was reportedly concentrating its efforts on capturing towns in Donetsk, particularly Bakhmut, the site of the most intense fighting in recent weeks.
“The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on attempts to establish control over the Donetsk region without success”, the General Staff said in a statement, he added that both the warring nations had launched multiple airstrikes all throughout the past day.
US President Joe Biden gave an opinion that Putin’s ceasefire offer was a hint at being desperate. “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen,” he said while talking to the reporters at the White House.
Russian envoy in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, replied on Facebook saying: “Washington is set on fighting with us ‘to the last Ukrainian’.”
Russia’s Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7.
Since 2019, the church hierarchy has acknowledged the main Orthodox Church in Ukraine as independent and rejected any notion of devotion to the Moscow patriarch. Numerous Christians in Ukraine have changed their calendars to observe Christmas on December 25 like the rest of the world.
