Putin violates his own Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine

Authored by spectator.co.uk and submitted by Young_Englander
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Vladimir Putin’s 36 hour ceasefire in Ukraine, which came into effect at noon today, didn’t last long: less than two hours in, the Russian army broke it. 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. Artillery fire and shelling were reported in the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, later confirmed by the Ukrainian presidential administration. One unverified video quickly surfaced, showing two Ukrainian soldiers who claimed to be recording the sound of shelling in Bakhmut. The situation developing around the city, they said, was ‘very difficult’.

Update from Bakhmut 6 January. pic.twitter.com/Sq6WvQUFXO — Dmitri (@wartranslated) January 6, 2023

Russia’s supposed ceasefire had been met with scepticism from the off. Ukraine rejected Putin’s call to also pause hostilities. The country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky called it a ‘cover’ to halt recent successful Ukrainian advances in the Donbas and give Russian soldiers much-needed respite. The only way there would be a truce, Zelensky said, was if Moscow withdrew its forces from Ukrainian territory.

Unusually, Putin’s presidential decree yesterday was met with much anger from Russia’s notorious military blogging community. One popular milblogger Voenniy Osvedomitel, with over half a million subscribers on Telegram, called the ceasefire ‘outright madness, purely performative’. Correctly, it turns out, he continued, ‘it is hard to imagine that the fighters will observe it’, condemning it as the perfect opportunity for Ukraine to solidify its position.

It seems certain that Putin never intended for the Russian army to observe this ceasefire

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Traditionally, Russia’s milblogging community has backed the Kremlin’s war strategy, perpetuating their rhetoric that it is the Ministry of Defence, and not the president, who is responsible for Russia’s military humiliations in recent months. That many questioned Putin’s direct decision to call the ceasefire is a first.

It seems certain that Putin never intended for the Russian army to observe this ceasefire. Ostensibly, his order for the fighting to stop was a response to the appeal this week by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, himself an ardent and vocal supporter of the ‘special military operation’, to halt hostilities over the religious period. But we mustn’t be fooled. Putin’s decision to announce this ceasefire is an attempt to weaponise the Orthodox holiday, and further play into the culture war he has been waging in parallel.

Putin’s aim in this is to manipulate a situation where Ukraine is supposedly the only actor engaged in active fire, allowing him to further perpetuate the Kremlin narrative of Ukraine as the aggressor and Russia as the true defender of Orthodox values. It is noteworthy that not all Ukrainians are even celebrating Christmas today, with as many as 36 per cent, including my colleague Svitlana Morenets, choosing to celebrate with the West on 25 December instead.

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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. Few, of course, in the West, will believe the Kremlin’s version of events. But that this is a cynical military and propaganda tactic on Putin’s part is unfortunately no surprise to anyone.

autotldr on January 6th, 2023 at 17:30 UTC »

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)

Vladimir Putin's 36 hour ceasefire in Ukraine, which came into effect at noon today, didn't last long: less than two hours in, the Russian army broke it.

It seems certain that Putin never intended for the Russian army to observe this ceasefire.

Putin's aim in this is to manipulate a situation where Ukraine is supposedly the only actor engaged in active fire, allowing him to further perpetuate the Kremlin narrative of Ukraine as the aggressor and Russia as the true defender of Orthodox values.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Putin#1 ceasefire#2 Ukraine#3 Russia#4 Ukrainian#5

ttkciar on January 6th, 2023 at 16:48 UTC »

This comes as a complete surprise to anyone who hasn't been paying attention to the war in Ukraine since 2014.

ThinkSoftware on January 6th, 2023 at 16:47 UTC »

Starting to think this Putin fellow isn't very trustworthy