Putin’s Latest Ceasefire Looks Like A Trap

(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- Last Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas holiday.

Putin ordered the ceasefire to begin on January 6 as many Orthodox Christians, both in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas on January 6-7.

Earlier that day, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow had called for both sides to observe a Christmas Truce. In response to Kirill’s appeal, President Putin instructed the Minister of Defense to “introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact” from noon on Friday, January 6 through the end of Saturday, January 7.

Ukraine had dismissed Kirill’s earlier appeal.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, described the Russian Orthodox Church as a “war propagandist” that incited “mass murder” of Ukrainians. He called Kirill’s “Christmas Truce” a “cynical trap and an element of propaganda.”

Ukraine rejected the ceasefire, calling it “hypocrisy” and saying if Russia wants a delay in fighting, they should retreat.

The Kyiv Independent reported that bombings continued throughout Ukraine’s Christmas celebrations, despite Putin’s supposed ceasefire, killing at least three people and injuring 14.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported the dead included a 66-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman in the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region.

Within hours of the ceasefire ending, at least two people were killed in eastern Ukraine when Russia “resumed” bombing. Ukrainian officials said a 50-year-old man was killed in Kharkiv and a second death occurred in Soledar in the Donetsk region during the overnight attacks.

On Sunday, Russia’s state-owned media service TASS reported that Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine will press on.

President Putin’s First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergei Kiriyenko said the mission set out by Putin “will still be fulfilled.” He accused Ukrainian forces of violating the Christmas truce in eastern Ukraine by launching drone strikes during Christmas services in Sevastopol, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.