Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged artillery fire in Ukraine on Friday, even after Moscow said it had ordered its troops to stop firing for a unilateral truce strongly rejected by Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 36-hour ceasefire from midday on Friday to mark Orthodox Christmas. Kyiv has said it has no intention of stopping the fighting, dismissing the alleged truce as a ploy by Moscow to buy time to reinforce troops that have suffered heavy casualties this week.
“What ceasefire? Do you hear?” said a Ukrainian soldier using the fighting name Vishnya as an explosion rang out in the distance on the front line near Kremina in eastern Ukraine.
“What do they want to achieve if they keep shooting? We know, we’ve learned not to trust them.”
Russia’s defense ministry said its troops began observing a ceasefire at noon Moscow time “along the entire contact line” in the conflict, but said Ukraine continued to shell populated areas and military positions.
A local resident pushes his bicycle along a street past tanks and rubble in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Friday. (Dimitar Dilkov/AFP/Getty Images)
Reuters journalists heard explosions, which Ukrainian troops described as incoming Russian missile fire. The Ukrainians returned fire from tanks.
Ukrainians said it was quieter than many other days because the snowy weather made it difficult to fly drones and spot targets.
“The situation today is exactly the same as yesterday, the day before, last week and last month,” said one, hiding his face with a scarf. “There is no point in talking to them, believing in their promises, orders and decrees.
It was not immediately possible to determine whether there was any reduction in the intensity of fighting elsewhere.
WATCH | Ukraine rejects Putin’s ceasefire request:
Ukraine rejects Putin’s cease-fire demand, says it’s a cover
One witness in the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk, close to the frontline, described incoming artillery fired from pro-Russian positions on the outskirts of the city after the truce was due to take effect.
The Ukrainian governor of the frontline eastern Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said that in the first three hours of the supposed ceasefire, the Russians shelled Ukrainian positions 14 times and stormed a settlement three times.
The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7. Ukraine’s main Orthodox Church has rejected Moscow’s authority, and many Ukrainians have shifted their calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25, as in the West.
Putin attended a service at the Kremlin cathedral alone, instead of joining other worshipers in a public celebration. State television showed two live clips of Putin inside the gilded Annunciation Cathedral as Orthodox priests conducted the midnight service known as the Divine Liturgy.
Combat vehicles for Ukraine
Washington unveiled its latest $3.75 billion package of US military aid to Ukraine and war-torn allies, sending the US military’s workhorse Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Kyiv for the first time.
It capped a week in which Germany and France also pledged armored vehicles, finally meeting one of Kyiv’s most pressing demands from its allies for armor to defeat Russian tanks in mechanized combat.
WATCH | People in Kyiv are skeptical of Putin’s ceasefire:
People on the streets of Kyiv are skeptical of Putin’s ceasefire
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who pleaded for Bradley in Washington last month on his first trip abroad since the start of the war, said on Friday that they were “exactly what we need”.
The US package also includes Sea Sparrow air defense missiles, and the German package includes Patriot missiles, which Washington offered last month.
Shortly before the ceasefire was due to begin, rockets hit a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk near the eastern frontline, damaging 14 houses but causing no casualties as many people fled.
“It’s bad, very bad. We have to apply pressure [Russian forces], make them leave, maybe more air defense systems will help. This happens often, not only on festive occasions. Every other day,” Alexander, 36, said outside a supermarket at the time of the attack.
One rescuer was killed and four others were wounded after Russian forces shelled a fire station in the southern city of Kherson ahead of a deadline early Friday, the regional governor said. Reuters could not immediately confirm this.
“Christmas as a Cover”
Zelensky immediately dismissed the ceasefire as a ploy by Russia to buy time after suffering crippling losses on the front line. Dozens of Russian soldiers were killed in an attack over the New Year’s weekend.
Laura Cooper, the US deputy assistant secretary of defense who focuses on Russia and Ukraine, told reporters in Washington on Friday that Putin’s cease-fire announcement should be taken with a “grain of salt.”
“This is the same guy who said he wasn’t going to invade Ukraine,” Cooper said.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, starting a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions of Ukrainians. With arms and financial support from the United States and Europe, Ukraine has pushed Russia out of some of its territory, but fighting rages to the east and south.
Ukraine’s military general staff said its troops had repelled multiple Russian attacks in the past day, as Moscow focused on its efforts to capture towns in Donetsk.
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