Europe 1 with AFP 4:35 p.m., January 5, 2023

After a request from Patriarch Kirill, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his forces to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine on January 6-7 on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, the Kremlin said in a statement.

This ceasefire will apply until midnight on the night of January 7 to 8.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his forces to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine on January 6-7 on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, after a request to do so from Patriarch Kirill, the Kremlin said.

"In view of the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the Russian Minister of Defense to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine from noon on January 6 of this year until midnight on January 7," he said in the Kremlin statement.

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