It is day 318 of the war in Ukraine. Follow the latest news about the war and all its aftermath in this live blog.
Moscow says it will respect unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine
1:37 pm | Russian troops in Ukraine will continue to abide by the unilaterally declared ceasefire until midnight Saturday local time, Moscow’s defense ministry said. The 36-hour ceasefire went into effect on Friday to mark Orthodox Christmas, but Ukraine has denounced it as hypocrisy and cynical propaganda.
In its daily briefing, the ministry said that Russian troops only returned artillery fire when they fired. Ukrainian forces also reportedly hit civilian targets in the Donetsk region.
Moscow says it has repelled attacks by the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours and killed dozens of soldiers. Ukraine’s military command said on Saturday that Russia had carried out a missile attack in the past 24 hours. The rocket launchers were hit twenty times.
The new Ukrainian church celebrates Christmas in the cave monastery in Kiev
11:55 am | Hundreds of people, including Ukraine’s culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko, celebrated Orthodox Christmas at the historic cave monastery complex in Kiev. It is a series of 11th century religious buildings on the left bank of the Dnieper River. The church service was broadcast live on Ukrainian television.
Until the end of last year, the complex was administered by the state and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. In the long-running campaign of Ukrainian rulers against Russian influence, a new Orthodox church was founded in 2018 with state aid that has no ties to Moscow. At the end of last year, the Ukrainian government decided to terminate agreements with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the use of the buildings in the complex. Orthodox Christians have complained in vain about the illegality of reporting and discrimination against Ukrainian Orthodox Christians.
Orthodox Churches generally celebrate Christmas on January 6 and 7. The Kiev government is trying to get Christians to celebrate Christmas on December 24 and 25. The Eastern Orthodox Church seceded from Western Christians in 1054, partly due to disputes over the role of the pope in Rome. The Roman Catholic Church became the Western variant of the Christian religion. The Orthodox do not have a prelate with papal authority. About half of the Orthodox live in the former Soviet republics, but there are also many Orthodox in southeastern Europe, Egypt and Ethiopia.
In the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin attended a Christmas Eve service in a cathedral once designated for tsars. According to footage released by the Kremlin, Putin was practically alone in the service, surrounded only by priests. According to the Kremlin, Christmas inspires him “to good deeds and ambitions” and praised the Russian Orthodox Church, which according to Putin supports the military in “our special military operation”. Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly expressed his support for the military intervention in Ukraine, which intensified with the Russian invasion last February. Putin declared a 36-hour Christmas truce, but according to observers this was not noticed at various points along the front. Ukraine has rejected the Christmas truce
“The quarrels don’t subside”
07:50 | Despite the temporary ceasefire, the fighting between the Russians and Ukrainians does not seem to subside. This was reported by the British Ministry of Defense in its daily intelligence update. According to the ministry, the fighting is taking place on a routine level.
Particularly in the area around Kremina, which is located in the Luhansk province, there is a lot of fighting going on in the heavily forested area. According to the British ministry, the fighting consists mainly of infantry battles, which take place in close proximity to each other. Heavy afforestation makes it very difficult for drones and artillery to make targeted attacks, the ministry said.
The top Russian army would feel pressured by the situation in Kremina, because it is close to Bachmut’s right flank. Bachmut is a key position for them that they may want to use to make it in Donetsk.
Artillery fire in Donetsk
07:18 | Even in Donetsk people would not join the ceasefire, according to several eyewitnesses on Telegram. They say they see artillery shelling from pro-Russian areas, even after the armistice goes into effect.
According to Ukrainian governor of Luhansk Serhiy Haidai, the Russians have already attacked more than 14 Ukrainian positions in the first three hours of the ceasefire, including attempting the assault three times. “Orthodox assassins wish you a Merry Christmas,” he wrote on Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry insists it is monitoring the situation from a safe distance and that it was Ukraine that continued to carry out attacks.
Russians attack fire station in Kherson
07:01 | Russian troops attacked a fire station in Kherson, leaving several injured or even killed, presidential adviser Kirilo Tymoshenko said. Russia carried out the attack despite the 36-hour ceasefire.
“They’re talking about a ceasefire, and that’s what we’re dealing with,” he says. Agence France-Presse reports that the Russian Defense Ministry insists that Ukraine has broken the ceasefire.
The ceasefire was initiated by Putin after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian Orthodox Church leader Kirill called for it.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
