On Thursday afternoon, the Kremlin ordered its Russian troops to cease fire during the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday, according to AFP.
The truce is to last 36 hours, from noon on Friday to midnight on the night of Sunday.
He also calls on Ukraine to do the same, reports Reuters.
However, Ukraine's presidential adviser scoffs at Putin's call for a ceasefire in Kiev's response: "Keep the hypocrisy to yourself."
"Participate in worship"
Putin's announcement comes after Russian Patriarch Kirill issued an appeal earlier on Thursday for a truce during the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday, "so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and the birthday of Jesus".
Kyiv sees Kirill as a Kremlin lackey, and Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak calls Kirill "a war propagandist" and warned that the proposal could be "a cynical source", according to TT.
The Lieutenant Colonel: Needed at the front
Joakim Paasikivi, lieutenant colonel and teacher of military strategy at the Norwegian Defense Academy, does not believe that the ceasefire will last for the 36 hours announced by Russia.
- I see it more as a result of the fact that you need it at the front, than that you turn out to be magnanimous friends of peace.
He does not believe that the truce should stop the fierce fighting that has been going on at the front for the past ten months.
- But it will be interesting to see what the result will be at lunchtime tomorrow if the order is enforced, if the Russian units stop firing even if the Ukrainians continue.
He believes there are two main reasons for the truce.
One of them is that Putin wants to show the Russian population that he protects traditional values.
- But above all, I think it's because the Russian soldiers are in pretty bad shape in general.
Many are relatively newly mobilized, poorly trained, poorly equipped and now it's getting cold, he says.