Vladimir Putin orders 36-hour ceasefire over Orthodox Christmas

• Vladimir Putin orders his defense minister to establish a 36-hour ceasefire.
• The cease-fire will begin at 12:00 Moscow time (09:00 GMT) .
• Patriarch Kirill of Moscow had earlier asked for a Christmas truce.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has instructed his defense minister to establish a 36-hour ceasefire on the frontlines in Ukraine starting on Friday.

Beginning at 12:00 Moscow time (09:00 GMT), the cease-fire will fall on the Russian Orthodox Christmas.

Mr. Putin requested that Ukraine do the same, but Kiev promptly rejected the demand.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said: “Keep hypocrisy to yourself.”

According to the Kremlin statement, President Putin ordered his troops to cease fire not because he was de-escalating the situation (Putin never does), but rather because he had heeded a plea from the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Earlier in the day, Patriarch Kirill had requested a Christmas truce so that Christians might attend church services for the Orthodox Christmas.

According to the Julian calendar, Christmas Day is observed by the Russian Orthodox Church on January 7.

According to a statement from the Kremlin, “Taking into consideration [Kirill’s] appeal, the president now authorizes the Russian Federation’s minister of defense to enforce a ceasefire regime along the whole line of contact in Ukraine” for the duration of the 36-hour period.

Mr Putin’s order called on Ukraine to reciprocate so that the “large numbers of Orthodox believers [who] reside in areas where hostilities are taking place” could celebrate Christmas Eve on Friday and Christmas Day on Saturday.

In a statement on Twitter soon after, Mr Podolyak said there could be no “temporary truce” until Russian forces withdrew from all the areas they had occupied.

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