World enews: Putin calls for Ukraine cease-fire to mark Russian Orthodox Christmas

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to observe a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine for Russian Orthodox Christmas this weekend and called on Kyiv to do the same, a move that Ukraine appeared to swiftly reject.

Putin instructed his defense minister to institute a cease-fire “along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine” starting at midday local time (4 a.m. ET) on Friday, the Kremlin said in a statement posted on Telegram Thursday. The proposed Christmas truce would last until midnight local time (4 p.m. ET) on Saturday.

Kyiv indicated its forces wouldn’t observe the cease-fire and has long viewed suggestions of a truce as efforts to buy Moscow time.

“First. Ukraine doesn’t attack foreign territory and doesn’t kill civilians. As [Russia] does. Ukraine destroys only members of the occupation army on its territory…,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter after Putin’s announcement. “Second. [Russia] must leave the occupied territories — only then will it have a “temporary truce.” Keep hypocrisy to yourself,” Podolyak added.

Putin did not appear to make his order conditional on Ukraine agreeing to follow suit, and it wasn’t clear what the unilateral announcement would mean for the status of fighting across the conflict’s front lines.

Ukrainian officials earlier dismissed the idea when it was first raised by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church who enjoys a close association with the government and has provided a kind of spiritual cover for the invasion.

Podolyak had dismissed Kirill’s call as “a cynical trap and an element of propaganda.”

The Russian Orthodox Church, which uses the ancient Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7 — later than the Gregorian calendar. Some Orthodox Christians in Ukraine recently started celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 to show their anger at and defiance of Moscow.

“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 cease-fire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ,” Putin said.

Putin’s proposal comes with the war finely poised after 10 months.

His campaign in Ukraine suffered a series of setbacks at the end of last year, with counterattacks by Kyiv’s military forcing retreats from large areas Russia’s military had seized and Putin claimed to have annexed in the east and south of the country.

The Kremlin has responded by calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists and intensifying its commitment to the conflict.

With fighting on the ground largely frozen in the thick of winter, Moscow’s military has bombarded civilian targets across Ukraine from the air — including a series of missile strikes on New Year’s Eve.

Kyiv has warned that Putin’s regrouped and reinforced army might be planning a major new offensive in the next few months and has urged its Western allies to deliver more powerful weapons.

President Joe Biden has indicated that Bradley Fighting Vehicles, an armored combat vehicle that can serve as a troop carrier, could be sent to Ukraine.

While further fueling support for Kyiv from the United States and Europe, Russia’s ongoing invasion has also stoked rare criticism at home.

Earlier this week the Russian military blamed its soldiers’ use of cellphones for a Ukrainian missile attack that killed dozens and fueled a new round of domestic criticism at how the war is being fought.

The strike dealt another blow to the Kremlin’s public image and renewed criticism of military leaders from nationalist bloggers and pro-war voices within the country.