Putin Orders 36-Hour Christmas Ceasefire, Ukraine Rejects It

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping via a video link at the Kremlin in Moscow on Dec. 30, 2022. Mikhail Klimentyev/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for a 36-hour ceasefire during the Orthodox Christmas, although Ukraine later rejected his call.

In an order Thursday, Putin ordered a ceasefire from midday on Friday after a request from Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

“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 January 6, 2023 to 24:00 on January 7, 2023,” Putin wrote in the order, according to state media. If it occurs, it will be the first major ceasefire since the invasion started about a year ago.

He noted that there a “large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the areas of hostilities” and called on Ukrainian forces “to declare a ceasefire and allow them to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day.”

In response, however, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter that Russia “must leave the occupied territories” before a “temporary truce” can be enacted.

“Ukraine doesn’t attack foreign territory and doesn’t kill civilians. As RF (Russian Federation) does. Ukraine destroys only members of the occupation army on its territory,” Podolyak wrote on the social media platform. Patriarch Kirill’s appeal, he added, is a “cynical trap and an element of propaganda.”

Patriot missile defense system at Sliac Airport in Sliac, near Zvolen, Slovakia, on May 6, 2022. Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters

Earlier Thursday, Kirill said in a statement that he called “on all parties involved in the internecine conflict to establish a Christmas ceasefire from 12:00 p.m. Moscow time on January 6 to 12:00 a.m. on January 7.” Previously, Kirill has publicly supported the invasion as part of Russia’s “metaphysical struggle” against the West’s neoliberal ideology.

When asked about Putin’s ceasefire at an event Thursday, President Joe Biden stated that he is “reluctant to respond to anything Putin says,” and “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”

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At various points during the war that started on Feb. 24, Russian authorities have ordered limited and local truces to allow evacuations of civilians or other humanitarian purposes. Thursday’s order was the first time Putin has directed his troops to observe a cease-fire throughout Ukraine.

Putin issued the truce order after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged him in a phone call Thursday to implement a “unilateral cease-fire,” according to the Turkish president’s office. The Kremlin said the Russian president “reaffirmed Russia’s openness to a serious dialogue” with Ukrainian authorities.

Erdogan also told Zelenskyy later by phone that Turkey was ready to mediate a “lasting peace.” Erdogan has made such offers frequently, helped broker a deal allowing Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain, and has facilitated a Ukrainian–Russian prisoner swap.

Russia’s professed readiness for peace talks came with the usual preconditions: that “Kyiv authorities fulfill the well known and repeatedly stated demands and recognize new territorial realities,” the Kremlin said, referring to Moscow’s insistence that Ukraine recognize Crimea as part of Russia and acknowledge territorial gains since Feb. 24.

Ukrainian soldiers fire a French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Dec. 26, 2022. Libkos/AP Photo

Elsewhere, the head of NATO detected no change in Moscow’s stance on Ukraine, insisting that the Kremlin “wants a Europe where they can control a neighboring country.”

“We have no indications that President Putin has changed his plans, his goals for Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Oslo, Norway, according to The Associated Press.

Christmas falls on Dec. 25 under the current Gregorian calendar, introduced in the 1500s. The Orthodox Church uses the earlier Julian calendar, which celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7.

Western powers have, meanwhile, sent more and more weapons to Ukraine. In its latest pledge, the French Defense Ministry said it plans talks soon with its Ukrainian counterpart on delivering armored combat vehicles.

As for the United States, Biden said Bradley Fighting Vehicles, a medium armored combat vehicle that can serve as a troop carrier, could be sent to Ukraine in the near future. When asked about sending those vehicles Wednesday, Biden responded with, “Yes.”

It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for more military aid and weapons.

“There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western-type tanks,” Zelenskyy said this week. “We must put an end to the Russian aggression this year exactly and not postpone any of the defensive capabilities that can speed up the defeat of the terrorist state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.