The unilateral ceasefire that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared from midday Moscow time on Friday ended at 11:00pm in Kyiv (2100 GMT) on Saturday. Ukraine accused the Russian army of not respecting the ceasefire, while Russia said it had been forced to retaliate following Ukraine's rejection of the truce offer. Read our live blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
This live blog is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage on the war in Ukraine, please click here.
10:10pm: Little respite in fighting as Ukraine marks Orthodox Christmas
Ukrainians and Russians marked Orthodox Christmas on Saturday, as the 36-hour ceasefire ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin ran its course with little sign the fighting had eased.
War-scarred cities in eastern Ukraine saw no significant let-up in the combat. AFP journalists in the town of Chasiv Yar south of the frontline city of Bakhmut heard heavy artillery fire throughout much of Saturday morning.
The Russian defence ministry insisted its forces were observing the unilateral ceasefire, which ended at 11:00 pm in Kyiv (2100 GMT). But they also said they had repelled attacks in eastern Ukraine and killed dozens of Ukrainian soldiers Friday.
8:41pm: Shelling booms around Bakhmut’s streets despite truce
Reporting from Kharkiv, FRANCE 24's Luke Shrago noted that many of the Ukrainians he spoke to were unaware that a truce had been called. They said they had only found out the news after switching on their televisions, adding that, in their view, Russian President Vladimir Putin had simply called the truce in an effort to try to give Russia some breathing room ahead of potential attacks and to portray it as the party that wants peace.
Many people also said that they weren't celebrating Christmas Day (as per the Christian Orthodox tradition) because they felt that they were too close to the fighting and there was nothing to celebrate.
4:03pm: London to host international meeting on alleged war crimes in Ukraine
Justice ministers from around the world will gather in London to scale up the support being offered to the International Criminal Court in its investigations of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, the British government said on Saturday.
The meeting in March, which will be hosted by UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and his Dutch counterpart Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, will be attended by ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, according to a statement.
"Almost a year on from the illegal invasion, the international community must give its strongest backing to the ICC so war criminals can be held to account for the atrocities we're witnessing," said Raab, who is also Britain's deputy prime minister.
2:50pm: Russia says it will honour self-declared ceasefire in Ukraine until midnight
Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday its forces in Ukraine would maintain a ceasefire it unilaterally declared in honour of Orthodox Christmas until midnight, despite Ukraine's rejection of the truce offer.
In its daily briefing, the defence ministry said its troops had only returned artillery fire when fired upon by Ukrainian forces, whom it accused of shelling civilian areas – something Kyiv often accuses Russian forces of.
Ukraine rejected Moscow's ceasefire offer as a cynical trick designed to give Russian forces the chance to rest and re-arm and said it would continue to try to recapture territory seized by Moscow.
1:52pm: Artillery fire heard in frontline Ukrainian city despite announced Russian ceasefire
Artillery exchanges pounded war-scarred cities in eastern Ukraine on Friday despite Russian leader Vladimir Putin unilaterally ordering his forces to stop shooting for 36 hours. In Bakhmut, one sandbagged building in the city centre has been nicknamed the "point of invincibility" by Ukrainians. They gather there to seek warmth, comfort and news. Click on the player below to watch the story by FRANCE 24's correspondent Leo McGuinn in collaboration with France 2.
1:49pm: Russia insists it is observing Ukraine ceasefire despite Kyiv attacks
Moscow insisted Saturday its army was observing a ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Orthodox Christmas.
"Despite the shelling of the armed forces of Ukraine of settlements and Russian positions, the implementation of the declared ceasefire will be continued," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
The statement added, however, that over the past 24 hours Russian forces repelled a number of attacks by the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine and killed dozens of its troops.
AFP journalists in the town of Chasiv Yar south of the frontline city of Bakhmut on Saturday heard heavy artillery fire for much of Saturday morning.
On Saturday, the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said that Russia launched one missile strike and fired 20 rounds from multiple rocket launchers over the past 24 hours.
11:47am: Head of Ukraine church conducts Christmas service at landmark monastery
Hundreds of worshippers on Saturday attended a historic service at the famed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Christmas under the shadow of war.
In a first, Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, led a Christmas divine liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral of the 11th century Lavra, the pro-Western country's most signifiant Orthodox monastery.
Hundreds of believers including men in military uniform gathered to attend the service under a tight police presence, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene.
Located in the capital Kyiv, the church used to be the seat of a branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Chuch that was previously under Moscow's jurisdiction but severed ties after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
9:48am: Ukrainians see Putin's 'truce' as a strategic ploy for Russia to reinforce troops
Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24's correspondent Astrig Agopian noted that Ukrainians never really accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's unilaterally declared ceasefire. Sirens and air raid alerts were heard all over the country and in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, there were several Russian missile attacks which destroyed about 14 houses. In Bakhmut and on the frontline, nothing has changed, according to both sides.
9:19am: Lone Putin observes Christmas at Kremlin church
Russian President Vladimir Putin stood alone at a midnight service at a Kremlin church as he marked Orthodox Christmas darkened by Moscow's assault on Ukraine.
Putin attended the service at the Cathedral of the Annunciation, originally designed as a church for the Russian tsars.
He stood alone as Orthodox priests in golden robes conducted a ceremony holding long candles, pictures released by the Kremlin showed.
In previous years, Putin has usually attended Orthodox Christmas services in Russian provinces or just outside Moscow.
9:00am: Russia-installed official says drone shot down over Crimea's Sevastopol
The Russian-installed governor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol said on Saturday that air defences had shot down a drone in what he suggested was the latest attempted Ukrainian attack on a port where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-backed governor of the city, made the allegation on the Telegram messaging service, alleging that the incident had occurred in the early hours of January 7, which is Orthodox Christmas.
There was no immediate comment on the allegation from Ukraine, which has not in the past confirmed similar alleged incidents.
8:28am: Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas in shadow of conflict
Orthodox Christians packed churches on Friday evening for Christmas Eve services, a holiday darkened for many by the conflict raging between Orthodox neighbors Russia and Ukraine.
Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the world's largest Orthodox denomination, led elaborate services at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, with dozens of priests and officiants arrayed in rich vestments swinging smoking incense censers and chanting the liturgy.
A day earlier, Kirill called for a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin agreed to but that Ukrainian officials scorned as an attempt to allow Russian forces to regroup. Reports of scattered fighting in Ukraine on Friday could not immediately be confirmed. FRANCE 24's correspondent in Ukraine Luke Shrago provides more information below.
8:28am: Kremlin-ordered truce is uncertain amid mutual mistrust
An uneasy quiet settled over Kyiv on Friday despite air-raid sirens that blared there and across Ukraine shortly after a Russian cease-fire declaration for Orthodox Christmas went into effect. Ukrainian and Western officials have scorned the truce as a ploy.
No explosions were heard in the capital. And reports of sporadic fighting elsewhere in Ukraine could not immediately by confirmed. Clashes there could take hours to become public.
Kyiv residents ventured out into a light dusting of snow to buy gifts, cakes and groceries for Christmas Eve family celebrations, hours after the cease-fire was to have started.
"What ceasefire? Can you hear?" said a Ukrainian soldier, using the nom de guerre Vyshnya, as an explosion rang out in the distance at the front line near Kreminna in eastern Ukraine. "What do they want to achieve if they keep on shooting? We know, we have learned not to trust them."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
