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LAST UPDATE | 5 Jan 2023
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR Putin has ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to run during Orthodox Christmas, a move that war-battered Kyiv swiftly branded as “hypocrisy”.
Putin’s directive to his troops was announced days after Moscow suffered its deadliest reported loss of the invasion, and following 11 months of brutal combat.
Both nations celebrate Orthodox Christmas and the Russian leader’s order came after a ceasefire was urged by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill, a staunch Putin supporter.
“Taking into account the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the defence minister of the Russian Federation to introduce … a ceasefire along the entire line of contact between the sides in Ukraine,” said a Kremlin statement.
It will run from from 12pm (9am Irish time) tomorrow, until 12am (9pm) on 7 January, the Kremlin said.
Kyiv attacked the announcement, calling it “hypocrisy”.
Russia “must leave the occupied territories – only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’. Keep hypocrisy to yourself,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
US President Joe Biden said Putin’s order for a ceasefire was simply an effort to find breathing room for his war effort.
“He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches” on 25 December and on New Year’s Day, Biden said, adding: “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price called Putin’s ceasefire “cynical”, saying: “We have little faith in the intentions behind this announcement.”
He voiced concern that Russia would use the break to “regroup, to rest and ultimately to re-attack” and said that Putin may seek to “fool the world” by making it seem that he wants peace.
“This does not appear to be a change in the tide of the war,” he said.
“If Russia were truly serious about peace, about ending this war, it would withdraw its forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine.”
Russia occupies parts of eastern and southern Ukraine after 11 months of fighting, but Kyiv has reclaimed swathes of its territory and this week claimed a New Year’s strike that killed scores of Moscow’s troops.
Earlier today, Erdogan, who has good relations with Moscow, had urged Putin to declare a “unilateral” ceasefire during a telephone conversation between the two leaders, the Turkish leader’s office said.
The Kremlin reported that Putin told Erdogan he was open to dialogue if Kyiv accepted the “new territorial realities” on the ground.
After votes that were internationally branded as farces, Russia annexed the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions despite not fully controlling them.
Orthodox Christmas
Erdogan has used his good relations with both sides to try and bring Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Turkey for a peace summit.
Turkey hosted two early rounds of peace talks and helped strike a UN-backed agreement restoring Ukrainian grain deliveries across the Black Sea.
But the Kremlin responded directly to the appeal by Russia’s spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill.
The 76-year-old Orthodox leader, an outspoken supporter of Putin, has given his blessing to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and delivered heavily anti-Western and anti-Kyiv sermons throughout the conflict.
Kirill made his appeal “so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and on the day of the Nativity of Christ,” he said on the church’s official website today.
The Kremlin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine in February 2022 resulted in many clerics who had continued to remain loyal to Kirill turning away from Moscow.
In May, the Moscow-backed branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church severed ties with Russia, citing his lack of condemnation of the fighting.
Worst single loss
The ceasefire order came a day after Moscow lifted its reported toll in its worst single reported loss from a Ukrainian strike to 89 dead.
Ukraine’s military strategic communications unit has said nearly 400 Russian soldiers died in the town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine, held by pro-Russian forces. Even Russian commentators have said the death toll may be far higher than the Kremlin’s figures.
The deadly Makiivka strike came after months of discontent within Russia towards the military following a series of battlefield defeats and a hugely unpopular mobilisation drive.
As Moscow grapples with the aftermath of the strike, the head of the Wagner mercenary outfit said the first group of Russian prisoners offered an amnesty in return for fighting in Ukraine had been released.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a video released today speaking to a gathering of men – some injured and whose faces were blurred.
Wagner fighters have been at the forefront of Moscow’s offensive and their presence has also been reported in conflict zones including Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic.
More arms for Ukraine
News of Putin’s order came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron announced the delivery of French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks to Ukraine, the first western country to deliver tanks.
In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced renewed calls today to deliver Leopard lights tanks long sought by Kyiv.
“The argument constantly advanced by the chancellery that Germany must not go it alone is absolutely out of date,” said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who heads the German parliament’s defence committee.
“France is once again taking on the role that was expected of Germany, and is going ahead alone,” she told AFP.
Government sources in Berlin said today that both German and the United States were planning a new stage in arms delivers to Ukraine.
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A hard earned, fragile but sacred peace that must be preserved.
@League of shadows: Totally agree and fair play the people in the north have move on and left their politicians a long way behind them.
I have to say at the time I was very cynical but I can see now it’s transformed the North and must be preserved.
@Deborah Behan: Yes it took great men to sort this out
@Ger Burke: Don’t forget about Mo Ger.
The Good Friday Agreement has being consistently undermined as the North South bodies were deliberately undermined and ignored by Unionism, facilitated by the British and encouraged by the silence and acquiescence of the Irish Govt.
Waking up after 20 yrs is better late than never I guess, but the prize of peace is too precious to squander on meaningless petty party politics!
The Govts are co guarantors and need to move towards joint authority to create the conditions for change!
When will politics function in Northern Ireland? For how long will they need others to sort out their differences? I embarrassed for both sides.
@Michael Lang: politics in NI will only function when there is true power sharing.
With DUP propping up tories, there is an imbalance.
England has yet again prioritized its interests (Brexit) over the needs of the NI people, I.e. return to the troubles is better than change of government which would destabilize Brexit. NI lives are worth less that English economy.
Ulster could have a special deal (Scots & welsh want it) & enjoy benefits of EU and UK .. for the price of a border in the Irish Sea.
An ideology of hate prohibits logical rational thinking.
@Mairtin Cathbhar: that’s an insightful and informative comment. I find it helpful.
@Mairtin Cathbhar: Mairtin – good ideology. Bad assumptions :
The Labour leader and party are no better.
Populist politics dominate the UK as they do here, the “show” is staged to suit the biggest and most important potential voters. They tell us what we want to hear, when did you last witness promises bearing fruition.
Career politicians are self serving generally, they focus on the economy, sadly all else of concern to voters depends on that. Is the Irish leadership different ?
How would Ireland be treated by the rest of the EU if it was to pull the plug on a negotiated Brexit and forced a hard Brexit instead ?
One thing that should have united both sides was the common betrayal of the interests of the people of Northern Ireland by Brexit.
It’s a sorry state of affairs that politicians of today in NI are incapable and afraid of making a decision.
Every time Blair opens his mouth my ears stop working and my blood pressure goes up. He should be in the Hague. Now he’s telling Theresa May she should attack Syria. He’s a disgusting creature and the MSM are trying to launch him back on the international stage despite not being elected by anyone anywhere.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: Fully agree, every time I see his face or hear his voice I feel disgusted. Pity he didn’t take off his politicians smugness and revert to being a decent member of society before he comitted the UK to invade Iraq. Pity he didn’t pay attention to the huge public marches in every city of the UK protesting that decision.
He’s a constant embarrassment to UK citizens and should go back under his stone or feck off to a Bush cattle ranch in Texas.
@wattsed: Bas**rd blair is back on the rotten lying bbc pushing for war in syria….its laughable if it wasnt so serious….people in the west are screwed allowing this crap to go on.
The current bunch of politicians both unionist and nationalist are squandering 20 years of progress and letting the whole peace process slip away bit by bit – by their failure to see beyond their own tribal agenda.
@GO GREEN: What’s 20 years to a Dinosaur? I’ve spent a fair bit of time up North and you would nearly be thankful for the politicians we have down here when you listen to some of these lunatics up there. Embittered bigots, especially the Unionists.
Mo Mowlam did all the hard work, once it looked like it could be a success Blair and Co jumped aboard to catch the plaudits.
have your say