Russia: No Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine as winter deadlock sets in | Ukraine

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Moscow said a “Christmas ceasefire” was not on the table after nearly 10 months of war in Ukraine, where fighting appeared to continue through the winter.

“There is no calm on the front line,” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in his usual evening video address on Wednesday. “Every day, every meter is given with great difficulty. And especially when the whole tactic of the occupiers boils down to destroying everything in front of them with artillery – so that only rubble and craters remain in the ground.

Asked on Wednesday if Moscow had seen proposals for a “Christmas ceasefire,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, no such offers have been received from anyone. This topic is not on the agenda.” .

Zelensky this week called on Russia to start withdrawing its forces by Christmas as a first step toward a peace deal, but Peskov said on Tuesday there will be no peace with Kyiv until Zelensky accepts the “facts” on the ground – a reference to Russian control. It annexed parts of four Ukrainian regions in September after forced and illegal “referendums”. After a series of lightning Ukrainian counterattacks, Kyiv regained control of about half of the territory that Moscow occupied in the first weeks of its invasion.

The winter stalemate could now begin, military analysts say, even as heavy fighting continues, especially in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing for control of the town of Bakhmut.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the scale of the ongoing violence tempered hopes of an imminent end to hostilities.

Kirby said when asked about the prospects for a negotiated peace with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. “So there is active fighting going on now. We expect that to continue for some time to come.”

Separately, Canada said on Wednesday it would revoke a sanctions waiver that allowed the turbines of Nord Stream 1, Russia’s largest gas pipeline to Europe, to be repaired in Montreal and returned to Germany.

The pipeline under the Baltic Sea was closed for repairs on 31 August but has not been restarted. It was severely damaged a month later when it was hit by a series of explosions. European governments suspect that the pipeline rupture and another called Nord Stream 2 resulted from sabotage. Putin described Western allegations that Russia was behind the bombings as “crazy”.

“Putin has been forced to show that his intention was never to bring Nord Stream 1 back into full operation, and that the pipeline itself was rendered inoperable,” said Canada’s Foreign Minister, Melanie Jolly, and Minister of Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson. Joint statement.

They said the decision was made after working closely with Ukraine, Germany and other European allies.

Although no peace talks have taken place, hundreds of prisoners have been released in exchanges in recent weeks. The launches — along with progress in talks to resume Russian exports of a fertilizer ingredient and extend the grain deal — have shown that the two sides are maintaining at least limited contact on several levels.

Kyiv and Washington said on Wednesday that the most recent exchange of dozens of detainees included an American citizen.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, identified the American as a Swede, Morekizi, who he said was “helping our people” before ending up in Russian custody. The Washington Post reported that Murikezi was a US Air Force veteran born in Uganda.

Kirby did not name the released American, citing privacy concerns, but said, “We certainly welcome this news.”

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday that an inclusive prisoner-of-war exchange deal could build confidence. In the past, Mirjana Spuljaric said, such exchanges constituted “the first step towards a broader agreement”.

The ICRC stressed that it was up to the two countries to reach an agreement on this issue. Neither the Red Cross nor the two sides have announced the exact numbers of prisoners of war in each country, but it is believed that there are thousands of such prisoners.

Reuters reported that Ukraine had sought to return more prisoners as part of talks with Russian representatives seeking to reopen the ammonia gas pipeline through Ukraine. The pipeline is widely seen as important to lowering global prices for fertilizers made from the gas.

with Reuters

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