Reuters has the full report on how things are looking on the day of Russia’s unilateral ceasefire:
Russia and Ukraine attacked each others positions in eastern Ukraine on Friday with no sign they would observe a 36-hour ceasefire unilaterally ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin at short notice to mark Orthodox Christmas in the region.
On Friday morning - Christmas Eve for Russians and many Ukrainians - Russian shells hit Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian city near the frontline in the industrial Donetsk region that Russia claims as its territory, the city mayor said.
“Kramatorsk is under fire. Stay in shelters,” mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko posted on social media. He did not give details of damage.
Ukraine’s military General Staff said its soldiers repelled multiple Russian attacks over the past day, with Moscow focused on trying to take towns in Donetsk, including Bakhmut, which has seen the heaviest battles in recent weeks.
“The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on attempts to establish control over the Donetsk region” without success, the General Staff said in a statement, adding that both Ukraine and Russia had launched multiple airstrikes over the past day.
Reuters could not independently verify the latest battlefield accounts.
The key story today is about Russia’s request for a ceasefire over Orthodox Christmas, which is observed on 7 January.
The unilateral ceasefire began at noon local time today (9am GMT).
Here’s a recap of what’s happened so far:
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Orthodox church in Russia, called for a ceasefire and a Christmas truce in Ukraine from noon on 6 January to midnight on 7 January to enable Orthodox people to attend services. Kirill has been a vocal supporter of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putinsubsequently instructed his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to introduce a 36-hour ceasefire along the entire line of contact in Ukraine from noon tomorrow to midnight 7 January. He said that Russian troops must hold fire for 36 hours in order to mark Orthodox Christmas.
US president Joe Bidencriticised Vladimir Putin for “trying to find some oxygen” by floating a 36-hour ceasefire from tomorrow noon to mark Orthodox Christmas, noting that Putin didn’t implement the break during the 25th, which many Orthodox Ukrainians celebrate, or on new year.
In his Thursday night address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected the idea, saying the goal was to halt the progress of Ukraine’s forces in Donetsk and the wider eastern Donbas region and bring in more of Moscow’s forces.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukraine’s president, dismissedPutin’s ceasefire calls. Ukraine “doesn’t attack foreign territory and doesn’t kill civilians” and “destroys only members of the occupation army on its territory”, he wrote on Twitter, adding that a “temporary truce” would be possible only when Russia leaves territory it is occupying in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign minister of affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, also posted on Twitter to say that Russia’s “unilateral ceasefire can not and should not be taken seriously.”
Russia’s state first TV channel has reported: “At noon today, the ceasefire regime came into force on the entire contact line. It will continue until the end of January 7.”
Fresh satellite imagery shows the impact of fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city Bakhmut.
Images taken on Wednesday reveal extensive destruction to buildings, homes, infrastructure and the fields in and near Bakhmut, said space technology company Maxar.
Satellite views of Bakhmut showed extensive fortifications and “dragon’s teeth” tank obstacles that have been placed in fields and along roads east of the city.
The aerial views taken before the war show neat green fields and northeast highway intersections, which have now been replaced by charred turf pockmarked with craters and damaged infrastructure and buildings.
Satellite view of trenches in Bakhmut. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Satellite view of apartment buildings and fields before the fighting east of Bakhmut. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Satellite view of damaged apartment buildings and cratered fields from fighting east of Bakhmut. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Satellite view of dragon's teeth east of Bakhmut. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Satellite view of shell craters at the E40 highway intersection northeast of Bakhmut. Photograph: 2023 Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Satellite view of damaged apartment buildings and cratered fields from fighting. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Putin’s announcement that Russian forces will conduct a 36-hour ceasefire over Russian Orthodox Christmas, on 7 January, is likely an information operation intended to damage Ukraine’s reputation, according to the Institute for the Study of War in the US.
The think-tank noted that Ukrainian and western officials see this as hypocrisy given Russian forces’ continued striking of Ukrainian and military infrastructure on 25 December, when many Orthodox Ukrainians also celebrate, and new year’s.
The ISW suspects the pause may be designed to enable Russian troops to rest and reset, which would disproportionately benefit them.
The ISW said:
Putin cannot reasonably expect Ukraine to meet the terms of this suddenly declared ceasefire and may have called for the ceasefire to frame Ukraine as unaccommodating and unwilling to take the necessary steps toward negotiations.
Here are some of the latest images to emerge from Ukraine, taken yesterday.
This is a house in Kherson, which was completely destroyed by a Russian bomb. Russian troops are attacking the city of Kherson every day after its liberation with the aim of destroying civilian infrastructure and supplies. Many houses in the city are uninhabitable because of serious damage. Photograph: Ximena Borrazas/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
A car seen floating in the Dnieper River next to the Antonovsky bridge, was was exploded in November. Photograph: Ximena Borrazas/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
The Dnieper river seen through a Russian barricade on the Russian side. Photograph: Ximena Borrazas/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
The UK government’s ministry of defence has posted its latest defence intelligence update on Ukraine:
Militias from the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics were formally integrated into the Russian army on 31 December.
Russia claims that these regions are intrinsic parts of the Russian Federation following the fixed accession referenda of September 2022. However the briefing says they have been discreetly controlled since 2014.
Their status remains divisive within Russia, where the territories are perceived by some as a drain on finances, as well as carrying a diplomatic and political cost.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 6 January 2023
Putin ally fighting to control salt and gypsum mines near Ukraine city of Bakhmut, says US
A close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is interested in taking control of salt and gypsum from mines near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, according to a White House official.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is the founder of Russia’s most powerful mercenary force, the Wagner Group. Wagner has played a key role in the Russian offensive against Bakhmut.
There were indications that monetary motives were driving Russia’s and Prigozhin’s “obsession” with Bakhmut, the US official said.
The United States has previously accused Russian mercenaries of exploiting natural resources in Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan and elsewhere to help fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine – a charge Russia rejected as “anti-Russian rage”:
US state department describes ceasefire proposition as ‘cynical’
In Washington, US President Joe Biden, the state department and the Pentagon greeted Putin’s order with scepticism. Biden said he thought the Russian president was “trying to find some oxygen”.
Ukraine has scored some battlefield successes in the past few months although Russia has kept up a barrage of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy plants, knocking out power to millions of people at times in the middle of winter. Russia has denied targeting civilians since its invasion began on 24 February but the strikes included Christmas Day and new year’s attacks on civilian infrastructure, according to Kyiv.
“There’s one word that best described that and it’s ‘cynical’,” US state department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing of Putin’s ceasefire order.
“Our concern … is that the Russians would seek to use any temporary pause in fighting to rest, to refit, to regroup, and ultimately to re-attack,” Price said.
Zelenskiy dismisses Russian ceasefire, saying war will end ‘when your soldiers leave’
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected out of hand a Russian order for a truce over Russian Orthodox Christmas starting at noon on Friday and ending at midnight on Saturday. He said it was a trick to halt the progress of Ukraine’s forces in the eastern Donbas region and bring in more reinforcements.
“They now want to use Christmas as a cover, albeit briefly, to stop the advances of our boys in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunitions and mobilised troops closer to our positions,” Zelenskiy said in his Thursday night video address.
“What will that give them? Only yet another increase in their total losses.”
Zelenskiy, pointedly speaking in Russian and not Ukrainian, said that ending the war meant “ending your country’s aggression … And the war will end either when your soldiers leave or we throw them out.”
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next while.
Our top story this morning: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has dismissed a unilateral order by Russia for a 36-hour ceasefire starting on Friday, saying it was a trick to halt the progress of Ukraine’s troops in the eastern Donbas region in order for Moscow to bring in more of their own forces.
Zelenskiy, pointedly speaking in Russian and not Ukrainian, said that ending the war meant “ending your country’s aggression … And the war will end either when your soldiers leave or we throw them out.”
Here are the other key recent developments:
The US state department expressed skepticism over Putin’s announced ceasefire, describing it as “cynical” given Moscow’s New Year’s Day attack on Ukraine and saying the US had “little faith” in the announcement’s intentions.
Putin’s announcement came hours after the head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, called for a ceasefire and a Christmas truce in Ukraine. In a statement, Kirill said he appealed to “all parties involved in the internecine conflict” for the ceasefire, so that “Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and the day of the Nativity of Christ”.
Germany will join the US in supplying an additional Patriot air defence battery to Ukraine, the White House has announced, after the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the US president, Joe Biden, spoke by phone. The two leaders “expressed their common determination to continue to provide the necessary financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine for as long as needed”, the White House said in a statement.
The US believes that Vladimir Putin’s ally Yevgeny Prigozhin is interested in taking control of salt and gypsum mines near the Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut, a White House official said on Thursday. There were indications that monetary motives were driving Russia’s and Prigozhin’s “obsession” with Bakhmut, the official added. Prigozhin is the owner of private Russian military company Wagner Group.
Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, said Germany providing weapons to Ukrainewas a “good decision” during a Thursday briefing. Habeck’s department has to approve weapons exports.
