Russia Breaks Putin's Ceasefire With New Attacks: Ukraine

Ukrainian officials say Russian military forces attacked parts of Eastern Ukraine on Friday despite Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering a 36-hour ceasefire to observe the Orthodox Christmas holiday.

The truce was to go into effect at 4 a.m. ET Friday and last until 4 p.m. ET Saturday. Ukraine and Western allies had rejected the ceasefire proposal, however, calling it a battlefield tactic, but Putin was reportedly not conditioning the military halt on Ukraine's acceptance.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists reported hearing outgoing and incoming shelling in the city of Bakhmut after the ceasefire was scheduled to begin. Air raid sirens were also said to be ringing throughout the country. Ukrainian parliament member Inna Sovsun tweeted that the air raid sirens began sounding two hours into the Russian leader's ceasefire.

"Like literally, he couldn't even hold it for two hours. That's how much one can trust #Putin," she said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, wrote on his Telegram channel about an additional Russian strike that he said hit the eastern city of Kramatorsk.

"The occupiers hit the city with rockets twice," Tymoshenko said. "And then they talk about a 'ceasefire.' This is who we are at war with."

Putin's public ceasefire order was directed to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and came after the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, called on both sides to halt fighting through the holiday.

"Taking into account the appeal of his holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the minister of defense of the Russian Federation to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact of the parties in Ukraine from 12.00 on 6 January 2023 to 24.00 on 7 January 2023," the Thursday letter from Putin read. "Proceeding from the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the areas of hostilities, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and allow them to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the ceasefire call during a Thursday night video message.

"Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to at least briefly stop the advance of our guys in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized men closer to our positions," he said. "What will this bring? Just another increase in the death toll."

U.S. officials also questioned the sincerity of Putin's ceasefire. When asked about the Russian leader's order during a Thursday briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price said "we have little faith in the intentions behind this announcement."

Price added there was concern "that the Russians would seek to use any temporary pause in fighting to rest, to refit, to regroup, and ultimately to re-attack. And so in that sense, it can't be considered a ceasefire if the intent is to train their fire with even more vengeance, with even more ferocity, with even more lethality against the people of Ukraine."

When asked by reporters about the truce, President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he was "reluctant to respond to anything Putin says," adding his Russian counterpart was "ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches" during the recent holidays.

"I think he's trying to find some oxygen," Biden said.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.