Putin calls for Christmas truce in move rejected by Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Orthodox Christmas, a move rejected by Kyiv which said there could be no truce until Russia withdraws its troops from occupied land.
Putin’s ceasefire order came a day after Moscow lifted its reported toll in its worst single reported loss from a Ukrainian strike to 89 dead.
Ukraine’s military strategic communications unit has said nearly 400 Russian soldiers died in the town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine, held by pro-Russian forces.
Even Russian commentators have said the death toll may be far higher than the Kremlin’s figures.
The Russian call for a ceasefire came as Washington announced a new package of weapons for Ukraine, for the first time including Bradley Fighting Vehicles, a breakthrough for Kyiv which has been calling for months for the West to provide armour to help it drive Russian forces from its territory.
US officials said the $2.8bn package would include about 50 Bradleys.
In co-ordinated announcements, Germany also said yesterday that it is sending Marder armoured vehicles, while France announced on Wednesday that it is sending AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles.
The Kremlin said Putin had ordered Russian troops to cease firing from midday today along the entire front, in response to a call for a Christmas truce from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a close Putin ally.
“Proceeding from the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the areas of hostilities, 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,” Putin said in his order.
A genuine truce in Ukraine would be the first since last May, when the sides halted intense fighting in the devastated port of Mariupol to allow Ukrainian forces to surrender there.
However, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak tweeted that Russia “must leave the occupied territories – only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’. Keep hypocrisy to yourself”.
The Secretary of Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danylov, tweeted: “A ceasefire? Lies and hypocrisy. We will bite you in the singing silence of the Ukrainian night.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on Twitter: “A so-called ceasefire brings neither freedom nor security to people living in daily fear under Russian occupation.”
Asked about the truce proposal, US President Joe Biden said he thought Putin was “trying to find some oxygen”.
“I’m reluctant to respond to anything that Putin says. I found it interesting that he was willing to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches ... on the 25th and New Year’s,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
Russia has denied targeting civilians.
Putin’s ceasefire also appeared to face challenges from Russia’s own side.
Denis Pushilin, Russian-installed leader in Ukraine’s Donetsk province, scene of the heaviest fighting, wrote on Telegram: “There can be no talk of any truce!”
He said Putin’s order involved only halting offensive operations: “It does not mean that we will not respond to provocations from the enemy. Or give any chance to the enemy at this festive time to improve their positions on the line of contact.”
Russia’s Orthodox Church observes Christmas on January 7.
Ukraine’s main Orthodox Church has rejected the authority of the Moscow patriarch, and many Ukrainian believers have shifted their calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25 as in the West.
Earlier yesterday the Kremlin said that Putin had told Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow is ready for peace talks – but only under the condition that Ukraine “take into account the new territorial realities”, a reference to Kyiv acknowledging Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine’s Podolyak called that demand “fully unacceptable”.