The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, estimated that it was an “excuse (of Russia) to stop the advance” of kyiv’s troops in Donbas and bring “equipment, ammunition and bring men closer to our positions”
The temporary ceasefire decreed unilaterally by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine during Orthodox Christmas should have started this Friday, January 6 at 09:00 GMT, as announced, in the face of skepticism from kyiv.
Under the terms of this truce, announced the day before, the Russian troops will lay down their arms until 21:00 GMT on Saturday, January 7.
Putin announced a ceasefire after the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, called for an end to fighting over Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated on Saturday.
“Taking into account the call of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I have instructed the Defense Minister to order a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the sides in Ukraine,” the Kremlin announced in a statement.
The bombings continue
Putin’s announcement was met with skepticism by the Ukrainian authorities. The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, estimated that it was an “excuse to stop the advance” of the kyiv troops in Donbas and bring “equipment, ammunition and bring men closer to our positions.”
journalists from the AFP they heard artillery fire from both sides of the front lines in Bakhmut, a city with largely destroyed and deserted streets, after the theoretical start of the ceasefire at 0900 GMT, although its intensity was less than in previous days, despite of the unilateral ceasefire decreed by Russia on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas.
Pavlo Diatchenko, a Bakhmut policeman, called the truce a Russian “provocation.” Civilians “are being bombed day and night and almost every day there are deaths,” he said.
The Russian army assured, however, that it would respect its truce and accused the Ukrainian troops of “continuing to bombard Russian cities and positions.”
*Read also UN counts 6,919 civilians killed in Ukraine in ten months of war
With information from AFP
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