6 Jan. () –
The Russian authorities have denounced this Friday a Ukrainian attack against the city of Donetsk, located in eastern Ukraine, just at the beginning of the unilateral ceasefire decreed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas.
The Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Matters Related to War Crimes of Ukraine (JCCC) has pointed out in a brief message on its Telegram account that the attack has been perpetrated with artillery and has added that “six 155-round projectiles have been fired millimeters”, without giving information about possible victims.
The unilateral ceasefire, rejected by Ukraine, came into force at 12:00 noon (10:00 in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands), after Patriarch Kirill, the highest representative of this Church, requested it. Putin asked kyiv to also declare a ceasefire during this period, something rejected by Ukraine.
The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, has accused Putin of using the truce as a military strategy. “They want to use Christmas as a cover to stop, at least briefly, the advance of our men in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized men closer to our positions,” he has reproached.
The war in Ukraine broke out on February 24 by order of the Russian president, who days before had recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, located in the Donbass region and the scene of a conflict since 2014. Moscow announced in September the annexation of these two regions together with those of Kherson and Zaporizhia, all of them partially occupied.
