The Russian President, Vladimir Putinhas ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine so that you can celebrate orthodox christmasa gesture adopted at the behest of the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Churchwhich continues to have a large membership in Ukraine. The ceasefire has been announced from noon this Friday until midnight on January 7 and is the first that one of the parties has proclaimed since the invasion began on February 24. Ukraine did not immediately respond to the announcement of the Kremlin, but it has done so at the previous initiative of Patriarch Kiril. The government of kyivwhich has already proposed a truce for December 25 as long as the Russian troops withdraw from the occupied territorieshas branded the offer of “cynical trap & rdquor; Y “propaganda element & rdquor ;.
There are therefore not many signs that the war of attrition currently being waged by both sides, with no new offensives under way and the toughest fighting concentrated in the region of the Donbas, may lead to a sustained interruption of hostilities. In fact, Ukrainian security forces have spent weeks registering churches and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church in the country, to which should be added the arrests of some clergymen and nuns, whom they accuse of working for the Kremlin in their propaganda campaigns and other subversive acts in Ukraine.
Since the war began, the church of patriarch Kirill has refused to condemn the invasion or even officiate funerals for ukrainian soldiers killed in combat, an attitude that has angered many of his Ukrainian faithful. Kirill has come to describe Russian aggression as “a metaphysical combat & rdquor; to prevent the slavic world be absorbed by western liberalism.
“Taking into account that a significant part of the citizens who profess Orthodoxy live in the fighting zones, we ask the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and give them the opportunity to attend Christmas Eve services, as well as those of Christ’s Christmas & rdquor ;, says Putin’s order transmitted to the Ministry of Defense and published on the web of the Kremlin. The Orthodox Church is guided by the Julian calendarwhich celebrates Christmas on dates after those of the Gregorian calendar.
Conversation with Erdoğan
Putin’s announcement comes hours after the Russian autocrat held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who once again offered his country as conflict mediator. Erdogan asked Putin to declare a unilateral ceasefire as a first step to resume peace talks, which have been halted for months. “President Erdogan has called for peace and negotiations, which should be backed by a unilateral ceasefire and a plan to reach a compromise. fair solution”.
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The truth, however, is that the starting points of both sides are irreconcilable. Ukraine demands the prior withdrawal of Russian troops from all occupied regions by the Kremlin since 2014, while Moscow makes it a condition for kyiv to recognize the “new territorial realities & rdquor ;, as the Russian government reiterated this Thursday. In other words, recognize the conquests at gunpoint of the Russian military.
And while the brutal fighting continues in bakhmuta small town in Donbas located 90 kilometers from Donetsk, the capital of the eastern province of the same name. Both sides have been locked in for weeks in and around the town, which has been so heavily bombed that, according to the region’s governor, the 60% of the city is in ruins.