The war in Ukraine is already ten months old

By Athena Papakosta

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is ready for talks to end the war in Ukraine, as the country faces fresh attacks and there is no sign the conflict is coming to an end.

Speaking on Russian state television, Mr Vladimir Putin announced again that “we are ready to negotiate with anyone involved on acceptable solutions, but it is up to them. We are not the ones who refuse to negotiate. They refuse.”

These statements of the Russian president are taking place while the Russian attacks continue in Ukraine. Kherson, Christmas Eve, was painted with blood, after the Russians bombarded the center of the city that a month and a half earlier they had been forced to abandon with the Ukrainians returning victorious to it. The toll of the heaviest attack in the area in a long time is at least 16 dead and 64 injured.

Ukrainians are determined not to lose this war that has already completed 10 months and has now entered its 11th month of conflict. Commenting on the Russian president’s new statements, the adviser to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podoliak, posted on Twitter that Vladimir Putin “needs to come back to reality”, adding that “it is obvious that Russia does not want negotiations, but that it is trying to avoid responsibility”.

For his part, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in his Christmas Day message addressed a message of optimism and strength to Ukrainians. “Even in total darkness, we will find each other and hug each other tightly. And if there is no heating, we will hug for a long time to warm each other. This holiday season, we will celebrate as always. We will smile and be happy, as always. With one difference: we will not wait for the miracle because we will create it ourselves”, he pointed out.

Air raid sirens sounded twice on Christmas Day across Ukrainian territory and three Russian missiles hit the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk on Sunday afternoon as well as Avdika where a woman was injured. At the same time, according to the Institute for the Study of War, the advance of the Russian armed forces in the strategically important Bakhmut is reportedly slowing down temporarily.

Until this year, most Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on January 7, following the old calendar. But this year they could choose to celebrate on December 25, and many did so with the hope of peace remaining undiminished. But there is still a long way to go.

On the one hand, Putin presented himself as open to negotiations, while the Kremlin constantly repeats that it will fight until all its goals are achieved. And on the other hand, Kiev, which has already made it clear that it will not rest until the last Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.

“Let the guns fall silent and let the senseless war in Ukraine end immediately,” said the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, in his speech. But the end of the war still seems far away and the stalemate between the two sides remains… invincible.

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