On Thursday, Ukraine rejected the temporary ceasefire announced by Vladimir Putin to mark Orthodox Christmas, saying there will be no truce until Russia removes its invading forces from occupied land.
The Kremlin said Putin had ordered his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, to introduce a 36-hour ceasefire along the entire line of contact in Ukraine for Orthodox Christmas from midday on 6 January to midnight on 7 January.
“Taking into account the appeal of his holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the minister of defense of the Russian Federation to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact of the parties in Ukraine from 12.00 on 6 January 2023 to 24.00 on 7 January 2023,” Putin’s order, addressed to Shoigu and published on the Kremlin’s website, stated.
“Based on 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,” Putin added.
Many Orthodox Christians, including those living in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas on 6-7 January. Since the war began, some Ukrainians are choosing to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, rather than the Julian calendar still used by the Russian Orthodox church.
Russia’s declaration of a ceasefire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas is “hypocrisy”, the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Thursday. Russia “must leave the occupied territories – only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’. Keep hypocrisy to yourself,” Podolyak tweeted.
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