Cover photo: Patriarch Kirill celebrates Orthodox Christmas, January 6, 2022 KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
- That first major truce since the country was invaded almost a year ago, it must come into force today at noon (10 a.m. in Paris) and run until midnight on Saturday evening (10 p.m. Paris).
- This announcement is coming after a corresponding call by the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, but also at the suggestion of the Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “In light of His Holiness the Patriarch Kirill’s call, I instruct the Russian defense minister to implement a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine,” the Russian president said, quoted in a Kremlin statement.
- Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of “using Christmas as an excuse to try, albeit temporarily, to halt the advance of Ukrainian forces in Donbass. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday the ceasefire “cannot and should not be taken seriously”.
- The Russian truce ‘will do nothing’ to move towards ‘peace’, London believes. Russia’s announcement of a ceasefire in Ukraine over the Orthodox Christmas “will not improve the prospects for peace,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Thursday. “Russia must permanently withdraw its armed forces, relinquish its illegal control over Ukrainian territory and end its barbaric attacks on innocent civilians,” the British diplomat chief added in a statement published on Twitter.
- For its part, German diplomacy assessed that the “so-called” armistice would bring “neither freedom nor security”, while the American President assured that Vladimir Putin “is looking for[ait] Catch a breath”.
- Belarusian opponent Ales Bialiatski made his public appearance again for the first time since his arrest in July 2021. He looked emaciated and pale-faced in a white-barred cage flanked by four armed police officers. This 60-year-old human rights activist was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2022 with the Russian NGO Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. He faces 7 to 12 years in prison.
- Washington and Berlin will send Bradley and Marder combat vehicles to Ukraine. Under international pressure to increase its military aid to Ukraine, Germany will also send her a battery of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle has medium armor and can serve as a fortified personnel carrier on a battlefield. The Marder is a West German armored personnel carrier that entered service in the early 1970s.
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