Vadimir Putin did not stop his Ukraine percussion at Christmas, nor did he do so on New Year’s Eve and, according to the main news agencies, he will not even respect his unilateral ceasefire promoted on the occasion of the orthodox christmaswhich is celebrated this Friday, January 7.
In this sense, the Moscow military high command assured that it was maintaining its activity at the front, although it softened the message by remarking that they were only “limited” to answering the fire received from Ukraine.
“Despite the fact that since 12:00 Moscow time (09:00 GMT) the grouping of Russian troops has observed the ceasefire, the kyiv regime continued to attack populations with artillerys and positions of the Russian troops,” said the spokesman for that ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkovquoted by the official agency TASS.
“There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.”
montesquieuTotal combat losses of the enemy from Feb 24 to Jan 6: pic.twitter.com/nQcbYpRFPC
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) January 6, 2023
Thus, he specified that from a place near the town of Novopavlivka in the region of Zaporizhiain southern Ukraine, Ukrainian forces carried out eight attacks with artillery fireand that three others were registered in the Lugansk region, reports efe.
“Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to at least briefly halt the advance of our guys in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized men closer to our positions. What will this bring? Just another increase in the death toll,” said the Volodymyr Zelensky in his usual late-night speech.
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“To end the war faster, that (a ceasefire) is not what is needed at all. What is needed is for the citizens of Russia to find the courage to free themselves from their shameful fear of a man in the Kremlin, at least for 36 hours, at least on Christmas,” he insisted.
Ukraine undermines the credibility of this ceasefire -which it did not accept-, assuring that once it had entered into force, Russian forces again hit the fire station in the city of Kherson, released at the end of last year. In this sense, a total of four explosions were felt in the aforementioned town.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the ceasefire that Putin has promised only seeks to damage the reputation of Ukraine, as it is such an important event for so many homes. the same think tankalso points out that this truce may have a logistical implication.
“Putin may have been looking to secure a 36-hour pause so that Russian troops could rest, recuperate and reorient to relaunch offensive operations in critical sectors of the front. Such a pause would disproportionately benefit Russian troops and begin to deprive Ukraine of the initiative,” he says.
