Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Friday of trying to “use Christmas as a disguise” to prevent the advance of Ukrainian forces in Donbass and bring equipment and ammunition closer to their positions.
Zelensky responded in this way to the announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he had called for a 36-hour ceasefire between noon on January 6 and midnight on January 7.
“Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to stop, at least temporarily, the advance of our fighters in Donbass and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized men closer to our positions,” stressed the Ukrainian head of state, in his regular newspaper. evening speech posted on social media.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Володимир Зеленський (@zelenskiy_official)
The ruler insisted that “everyone knows how the Kremlin uses stoppages in the war to continue the war with renewed vigor,” warning that this is not the way “to end the war faster.”
“What is needed is for the citizens of Russia to find the courage to shake off their shameful fear of a man in the Kremlin, at least for 36 hours, at least on Christmas,” he added.
After the announcement of a ceasefire by Russia, an adviser to the Ukrainian president had already described the measure as “hypocrisy”.
US President Joe Biden said today that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is trying to “catch his breath” with the announcement of a ceasefire in Ukraine, while the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, devalued the measure. Moscow, saying it will bring “neither freedom nor security to people who live in fear every day under Russian occupation.”
The British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, considered that the ceasefire “will do nothing to promote the prospects for peace.”
From a diplomatic point of view, Zelensky today thanked Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for their support for the defense of Ukraine, with “more weapons” for the Army and “more protection for all Ukrainians, on land, in the sky and in sea”.
“We will have another Patriot battery and powerful armored vehicles. This is really a great victory for our country,” he stressed.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 14 million people -6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.9 million to European countries-, according to the most recent data. from the ONU.
Right now, 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion was condemned by the broader international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,919 dead civilians and 11,075 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
