The temporary truce had been announced yesterday by the Russian president to allow soldiers and civilians to celebrate Orthodox Christmas and attend church.
But shortly before 2pm local time, air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine, including in the capital Kyiv.
One unverified video quickly surfaced, showing two Ukrainian soldiers who claimed to be recording the sound of shelling in Bakhmut.
One popular milblogger Voenniy Osvedomitel, with over half a million subscribers on Telegram, called the ceasefire ‘outright madness, purely performative’.
It seems certain that Putin never intended for the Russian army to observe this ceasefire.
The Kremlin is trying to suggest that Ukraine, rather than Russia, is the aggressor in this conflict and is unwilling to agree to a ceasefire. »