“He (Putin) was ready to bomb hospitals, kindergartens and churches (…) on December 25 and on New Year (…) Russian President that Moscow troops would observe a 36-hour ceasefire between noon hours on January 6 and midnight on January 7.
“According to the call of His Holiness Patriarch Cyril, I have directed the Defense Minister to introduce a ceasefire along the entire line of contact in Ukraine from 12:00 PM on January 6 to midnight on January 7,” the Kremlin statement said. said.
Biden’s statement echoes the Ukrainian government’s response to Russia’s ceasefire announcement, which criticized the “hypocrisy” of the Kremlin’s decision.
An adviser to the Ukrainian president today described the announcement of a Russian ceasefire in Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas as “hypocrisy”, and called on Russian troops to leave the country.
“Russia must leave the occupied territories, and only then a ‘temporary ceasefire’ is possible. Continue hypocrisy,” he wrote on Twitter.
Germany’s head of diplomacy also downplayed Russia’s ceasefire in Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas today, saying it “will bring neither freedom nor security to people who live in fear every day under Russian occupation”.
“If Putin wanted peace, he would withdraw his soldiers home and the war would be over,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a tweet.
“Evidently, [Putin] wants to continue the war, after a short break,” said the head of German diplomacy.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24 has already led to the flight of more than 14 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced and more than 7.9 million to European countries -, according to the latest data of the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
Currently, 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented 6,919 civilian deaths and 11,075 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, emphasizing that these numbers are far below the real ones.
Source: DN
