Putin Orders 1st War Ceasefire; Ukraine rejects and sees hypocrisy

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the first ceasefire since his forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year, and suggested the same to Kiev — which rejected the proposal, considered hypocritical.

According to the Kremlin, attacks along the battlefronts will be suspended for 36 hours, starting at noon (6am in Brasilia) this Friday (6th), in order to facilitate the celebration of the Orthodox Christmas, celebrated on Saturday (7th).

Putin says he followed the lead of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Cyril, his political ally who has come under widespread criticism for supporting military action against Ukrainians.

“Given the fact that a large number of citizens of the Orthodox faith live in the areas of hostilities, we ask the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and allow them to participate in services on Christmas Eve and Day,” Putin was quoted as saying. the communiqué.

Both Russia and Ukraine are largely Orthodox Christian countries, although Kiev stopped accepting Cyril’s authority in 2019, in the biggest schism in Christianity since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Christmas is celebrated in January because Orthodox denominations have kept the Julian calendar , which ceased to be used in the West after 1582 in favor of Gregorian.

Presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak said on Twitter that Cirilo’s proposal was “a cynical trap and propaganda element”. Then, before Putin’s statement, he wrote: “The Russian Federation must leave the occupied territories, and only then will there be a temporary truce. Keep the hypocrisy to yourself.”

Putin’s move seems to play to the audience, on the same day that he returned to say that he accepts negotiating peace with Ukraine if the government of Volodymir Zelensky “takes into account the new territorial realities”, according to the Kremlin report of a conversation by the Russian with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Eerdogan, who is seeking to mediate talks between the belligerents.

The term implies that Russia would be satisfied if Kiev accepted the cession of the four regions that were annexed by Putin on September 30, despite the fact that the Russians do not fully control them. Furthermore, Moscow absorbed Crimea in 2014, a political fait accompli for much of the international community, albeit an unrecognized one.

Kiev does not accept the excision of almost 20% of its territory and promises to fight until Russia expels it. Both countries have been united in the past, under the Romanov empire (1613-1917) and in the Soviet Union (1922-1991), and Putin has already made it clear that he considers Ukraine part of Russia.

This is another stumbling block: Ukrainians believe that by ceding territory, nothing will stop Moscow from attacking again in the future. There are alternative proposals on the square, such as that of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, that Kiev accepts losing Crimea and areas controlled by separatists in Donbass (east) from 2014 until the eve of the 2022 invasion.

Meanwhile, the fighting continues, mainly in the Donetsk region, one of the annexed areas and in which Russian control is just over 50% of the territory. Zelenski complained on Wednesday (4) that the West should send him new tanks to operate in the region – there is only provision, a priori, for the supply of less powerful armored vehicles.

The Russians followed up with artillery attacks and, in Belarus, new units from Moscow arrive every day. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Kremlin-allied dictatorship, there will be new military exercises by the joint force of the two countries, which raises the suspicion that a new offensive could involve Belarusian elements at some point this year.

So far, Minsk has only allowed the use of its territory by Russian forces, but has not been directly involved in the war. Dictator Aleksandr Lukachenko, who was recently with Putin, denies that he will participate in the conflict, but in an increasingly less convincing way.