Putin orders a 36-hour truce in Ukraine for Orthodox Christmas | Ukraine

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The Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, to implement a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine for Orthodox Christmas. A senior Ukrainian official called the move “hypocritical”.

The Kremlin’s announcement of the cease-fire from noon on Friday until midnight on Saturday came hours after the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, earlier on Thursday called for a cease-fire and a cease-fire in Ukraine.

Taking into account the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact of the parties in Ukraine from 12.00 on January 6, 2023 to 24.00 on January 7. ) 2023. ”Putin’s order, addressed to Shoigu and posted on the Kremlin website, stated.

Putin added: “Based on the fact that a large number of citizens who profess Orthodoxy live in the combat zones, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and allow them to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day.” .

Many Orthodox Christians, including those who live in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas on January 6-7. Since the war began, some Ukrainians choose to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, rather than the Julian calendar still used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Adviser to Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podolak said on Thursday that Russia’s announcement of a ceasefire in Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas was “hypocritical”. Russia “must leave the occupied territories – only then will it have a ‘temporary truce.’” Podolak tweeted: “Keep the hypocrisy to yourself.”

Oleksey Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, similarly rejected Russia’s cease-fire proposal, accusing Moscow of “hiding behind a Christian holiday”.

There is a simple solution: they take their bags, pick up the trash, and go to Russia. That’s it,” Danilov told Canal 24.

Separately, he tweeted: “What does a bunch of little Kremlin devils have to do with Christian Christmas? Who believes an abomination that kills babies, bombs maternity homes, and tortures female captives?”

Ukraine’s Western allies have also criticized Russia’s proposed ceasefire proposal.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, US President Joe Biden said Putin was “trying to find some oxygen” by announcing a 36-hour ceasefire, while German Foreign Minister Annalina Berbock said that if Putin really wanted peace “he would He brings his soldiers home.”

“The so-called ceasefire brings neither freedom nor security to people who live in daily fear under Russian occupation,” Burbock wrote on Twitter.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Wednesday, but made no mention of any possible truce.

Kirill, a close Putin ally, has emerged as one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Elsewhere, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin announced Thursday morning that the first prisoners recruited by his private military group had received the promised pardon after six months of fighting in Ukraine. “They worked outside their contract. They worked with honor and dignity. They were the first. No one in this world works as hard as they did,” Prigozhin told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, standing alongside several ex-convicts.

Screenshot showing Yevgeny Prigozhin addressing prisoners in a Russian prison offering them freedom to fight in Ukraine for six months. Photo: Twitter

Addressing the men, Prigozhin orders them not to end up in prison again. “The police will treat you with respect now…don’t drink too much, don’t use drugs, don’t rape women. Just [have sex] he said, a remark met with laughter. “Don’t steal, you have enough money for now,” he added.

Since last summer, Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef” because of his restaurant business and hosting dinners attended by the Russian president, has recruited tens of thousands of prisoners to make up for an acute shortage of men on the battlefield. Each convict reportedly received up to £3,000 a month for fighting at Wagner.

In a leaked video, Prigozhin is seen visiting a prison, telling his colleagues that they will be released if they serve six months with his group.

According to Olga Romanova, head of Russia Behind Bars, a prisoner rights NGO, about 40,000 convicts have so far been recruited from Russian prisons to fight in Ukraine. She said that many people were killed trying to take the city of Bakhmut in the Donbass.

She and other human rights workers called Prigozhin’s practice of conscripting and pardoning prisoners “completely illegal and unconstitutional”.

There were also reports of Wagner prisoners being executed by their commanders for desertion.

In November, Prigozhin welcomed the brutal killing of Yevgeny Nozin, a convicted murderer recruited by Wagner who surrendered to Ukrainian forces but was later allegedly extradited to Russia. Prigozhin issued a statement saying that the video showing Nozhin being executed with a sledgehammer blow to the head should be titled “A Dog Receives the Death of a Dog”.

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