Russia said its troops stopped fighting in Ukraine at noon Moscow time Friday under President Vladimir Putin’s order of a 36-hour cease-fire for the Orthodox Christmas holiday. Kyiv dismissed the offer as a ploy.
Air-raid sirens sounded across the country shortly after the deadline, Ukraine said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had stopped firing across the entire front line, but accused Ukraine of continuing to fight. Earlier, Russian military officials had said they would continue to fight if fired on or if Ukraine’s forces pushed to advance.
Kyiv and its allies in the U.S. and Europe rejected Putin’s surprise offer, announced late Thursday.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a bid by Moscow to get a break in the fighting “to step up the war.”
“They want to use Christmas as cover to halt the offensive of our boys in Donbas at least for a while and redeploy their military vehicles, ammunition and mobilized men closer to our positions,” he said in his nightly address Thursday. “What will that bring? Just more casualties.”
Kyiv has demanded Moscow remove its troops from Ukraine as a condition for any cease-fire.
“I’m reluctant to respond to anything Putin says,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in response to a question about the offer. “I found it interesting — he was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Year’s — I mean, I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”
The move comes as Putin’s forces have for months lost ground to Ukrainian advances and the Kremlin has in recent weeks stepped up missile and drone strikes on the country’s urban centers and civilian power infrastructure. In response, Kyiv’s allies are boosting military aid, pledging to supply armored vehicles and other weapons not previously provided.
Ukraine’s forces have driven Russian troops out of as much as 40% of the territory they initially took in the invasion. The Kremlin has said it still aims to reverse the setbacks and Kyiv’s battlefield progress has slowed in recent weeks, but Russian troops have so far failed to retake significant ground.
