War in Ukraine: Vladimir Putin orders two days of ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas
In his statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin calls on Ukrainian forces to respect the ceasefire.
AP - Mikhail Klimentyev
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his forces to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine on January 6 and 7 on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, after a request to this effect from Patriarch Kirill.
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"I
instruct the Russian Defense Minister to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine from 12:00 p.m. on January 6 this year until 12:00 p.m. on January 7
" , says Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin press release.
The Russian president also calls on the Ukrainian forces to respect this truce in order to give the possibility to the Orthodox, the majority confession in Ukraine as in Russia, "
to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the day of the Nativity of Christ
" .
.
This ceasefire, the first major since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February, comes after a request to that effect from the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill, a close supporter of Vladimir Putin.
This call had been swept away by the adviser to the Ukrainian presidency Mykhaïlo Podoliak, who castigated on Twitter, before the announcement of Vladimir Putin, a possible truce of “
cynical trap
” and “
element of propaganda
”.
During a telephone conversation on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also urged his Russian counterpart to put in place a "
unilateral ceasefire
" in Ukraine.
(
With
AFP)
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Vladimir Poutine