NEW: Russian President Putin's Orthodox Christmas cease-fire begins, but Ukraine and its allies reject it as a cynical move designed to buy time on the battlefield and favor in the eyes of the public.
and its allies as a cynical move designed to buy time on the battlefield and favor in the eyes of the public.
“Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to stop the advance of our guys in the Donbas for a while and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized people closer to our positions,” President Volodmyr Zelenskyy said late Thursday. Putin's surprise order instructed his defense minister to institute the cease-fire “along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine” from Friday, which is Christmas Eve for the Orthodox church.
The wording and sudden nature of the proposal fueled suspicion, with analysts suggesting that the cease-fire was an attempt by Putin to further damage Ukraine’s reputation at home and maybe even abroad. “The hand of Christian mercy was extended to the Ukrainians,” he said in a Telegram post. “But pigs have no faith and no innate sense of gratitude.”
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