The first significant ceasefire of the more than 10-month-long war, which has killed thousands of people and wrecked large portions of Ukraine, was imposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 05 for a duration of 36-hour during Orthodox Christmas.
Putin ordered the truce to start on January 06. Many Orthodox Christians including those who reside in Russia and Ukraine celebrate Christmas on January 06, 07 according to the Kremlin. Both sides of the war in Ukraine were urged to observe a Christmas truce early on January 05 by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
“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 along the entire line of contact of the parties in Ukraine from 12.00 on January 06, 2023 to 24.00 on January 07 2023,” said the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in the order.
“Proceeding from the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the areas of hostilities, 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,” said Russian President.
Despite the fact that Ukraine had already rejected Kirill’s appeal, there was no immediate response to Putin’s declaration of a ceasefire. Mykhailo Podolyak, a top advisor to the president of the Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accused the Russian Orthodox Church of being a ‘war propagandist’ who had encouraged the ‘mass murder’ of Ukrainians and the militarization of Russia.“ The statement of the Russian Orthodox Church about the ‘Christmas Truce’ is a cynical trap and an element of propaganda,” he said.
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