Ukraine rejected the temporary truce and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war by withdrawing his invading forces from occupied territories.
RIGA, Latvia — Russia complained Friday that Ukraine refused to adhere to an Orthodox Christmas cease-fire — though Kyiv never agreed to the unilateral 36-hour truce and dismissed it as a ploy for Moscow to regroup. Each side accused the other of continued shelling ahead of the Saturday holiday.“The ghouls in Kyiv refused the cease-fire even on Orthodox Christmas.
Putin said he had declared the cease-fire to accommodate churchgoers, but Kyiv immediately rejected it as a cynical public relations stunt that would allow Putin to appear merciful to Russian audiences, while giving his battered troops a chance to rest from fierce fighting in bitter cold temperatures.
Around the same time, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of the military administration in Kherson, in southern Ukraine, said one person was dead and four injured after a Russian attack.The exiled mayor of occupied Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Fedorov, reported “a loud explosion near the railway station,” citing reports from residents.
A White House official said Thursday that the United States believes Prigozhin’s “obsession” with Bakhmut has been driven by monetary motives, namely taking control of salt and gypsum from mines in the town.Wagner mercenaries and Prigozhin have been previously accused of exploiting resources in Syria, the Central African Republic and Sudan, among other countries.
Shortly afterward, the Russian Defense Ministry said that despite the cease-fire, “the Kyiv regime continued shelling settlements and positions of Russian troops,” hitting posts in the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk areas. It said Russian forces returned fire.In Berlin, the Russian Embassy condemned a decision by Germany to send Marder infantry fighting vehicles long coveted by Kyiv.
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