The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has ordered its military forces to temporarily enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine from January 6 to January 7 in view of the Russian Orthodox Church Christmas celebration.
Putin’s decision followed an agreement with the church leadership led by Patriarch Kirill.
Kirill was said to have prevailed on Putin to allow both countries to celebrate the orthodox Christmas holding on January 7.
Putin’s army invaded Ukrainian territory in February 2022 and the war has taken different dimensions with casualties on both sides’ while civilian lives have been affected in their thousands.
Reacting to the ceasefire, Mykhailo Podolyak, political adviser to the Office of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the truce is a trap stage managed by both the ROC and Putin.
“ROC is not an authority for global Orthodoxy & acts as a “war propagandist”.
ROC called for the genocide of Ukrainians, incited mass murder & insists on even greater militarization of RF. Thus, ROC’s statement about “Christmas truce” is a cynical trap & an element of propaganda,” he tweeted.
Podolyak added that no matter the tactics adopted by Putin, he must bear the “consequences for mass killings on foreign territory”.
