Russia's military announced on Friday that it had "ceased fire along the entire line of military contact in Ukraine" at 12 noon Moscow time.

In the attacked country, however, there was initially little of this: at 12:45 p.m. Kiev time, according to Ukrainian media, an air alert was declared throughout the country.

Robert Putzbach

Editor in Politics

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Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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Around the same time, a military watch blog reported the take-off of Russian warplanes from Belarusian military airfields.

In addition, fighting continued in the contested areas in the east of the country.

Shelling and destruction were reported from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region on Friday afternoon.

As expected, the Russian Ministry of Defense blamed Kyiv for the ongoing hostilities.

After all, it was Russia's President Putin who ordered the ceasefire on Thursday evening - and also named "Ukraine" as the location of the alleged ceasefire, although according to the Kremlin, large parts of the war zone have belonged to Russia since the Russian annexations last autumn.

It wasn't the only oddity.

According to the Russian statement, the cease-fire should last until midnight on Saturday, but not for "return fire".

This is what the Defense Ministry called the shelling of Ukrainian positions in the Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions on Friday after the alleged ceasefire came into effect, together with the usual success report that the targets had been destroyed.

The Ukrainian government announced on Friday that its soldiers have attacked again, especially in the eastern Donetsk region.

"This is how they congratulate the occupiers on the upcoming Christmas!" wrote the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv.

In Bachmut, Russian positions were fired at with 120 millimeter mortar shells as a "gift".

When he made his announcement, Putin referred to an appeal by Patriarch Kirill.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is loyal to the Kremlin, had called on “all sides involved in the fratricidal conflict” to call for a ceasefire so that believers could attend Orthodox Christmas services.

Last April, an initiative by UN Secretary-General António Guterres after an Easter ceasefire in Moscow fell on deaf ears.

Now Putin had also called on the “Ukrainian side” to observe a ceasefire.

However, Kyiv wanted nothing to do with this.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office described Kirill's call as a "cynical trap and an element of propaganda".

Kyril's church - which supports Putin's invasion and dresses it up religiously - is a "war propagandist," said adviser Mykhailo Podoliak.

Russia must leave the occupied territories, only then will a "temporary ceasefire" begin.

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk warned on Friday of attacks on churches being prepared by the Russian occupying forces.

US President Joe Biden said Putin was trying to get some breathing space.

On December 25 and on New Year's Eve, Putin bombed hospitals, kindergartens and churches, he pointed out.