War in Ukraine: Russia’s controversial ceasefire is set to begin this Friday

Following an invitation by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following a proposal by the Russian President Vladimir Putin On Thursday he asked his army to observe a “ceasefire in all communications between the parties from 12 noon on January 6 to midnight on January 7 this year”. He called on Ukrainian forces to respect the ceasefire Orthodox Christmas To give the Orthodox a chance, the majority of confessions in Ukraine, like in Russia, attend services “on Christmas Eve and the day of the Nativity of Christ”.

His Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, slammed the announcement, which he said was “just an excuse to at least halt the advance of our troops in the Donbass and bring equipment, ammunition and men closer to our positions. “What will be the result? No more casualties,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelensky, on the other hand, welcomed the “very important decision” of the United States and Germany, which promised to provide infantry armored vehicles of the Bradley type on the American side and the Marder model on the German side. After France’s announcement of sending light tanks. Berlin has pledged to provide a Patriot air defense battery, as Washington has already done.

The cease-fire ordered by Moscow is the first general ceasefire since the start of the conflict, with only local agreements concluded so far, such as the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal factory in Mariupol (south-east) in April. “Russia must leave the occupied territories, only then will there be a ‘temporary ceasefire’. Keep your hypocrisy,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Myklo Podoliak responded on Twitter.

For the US president, Vladimir Putin is trying to “give himself some air”. He mocked Joe Biden, saying he was “ready to bomb hospitals, nurseries and churches (…) on December 25th and New Year’s Eve.” The cease-fire would “do nothing to advance the prospects of peace,” replied British Foreign Secretary James astutely, calling for the eventual withdrawal of Russian forces. Such a cease-fire would not bring “freedom or security” to Ukraine, German diplomacy is full of.

In his telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed a “unilateral ceasefire” aimed at supporting “appeals for peace and negotiations between Moscow and Kiev”.

Vladimir Putin argued that Russia is ready for a “serious dialogue” with Ukraine, provided the latter complies with Russian demands and accepts the “new regional realities” born of the country’s invasion in February. In September, Moscow annexed four regions in Ukraine that were at least partially occupied by its military, modeled on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March 2014, despite several military setbacks on the ground.

Volodymyr Zelensky insists on a total withdrawal of Russian forces from his country, including Crimea, before any talks with Moscow. Otherwise, he promises to take back the occupied territories by force. During his talks with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin accused the West of “feeding the Kiev regime with weapons and military equipment and providing operational and targeting information”.

The Ukrainian strike on New Year’s Day comes at least a week after the Russian cease-fire is issued. 89 people died in Makivika, in eastern Ukraine. A particularly deadly bombing that the Russian military had to acknowledge, a rare fact, raised criticism in Russia against the military command.