Vladimir Putin had assured that the Russian army would observe a “truce” of 36 hours on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, January 7. In fact, the fighting continued on both sides Friday and Saturday, and the Russian army continued to bombard Ukraine.
With our correspondent in Ukraine, Stephane Siohan
Of the Vladimir Putin’s proposal, on Thursday January 5, the leaders of Kyiv called the initiative a cynical trap and a delaying tactic. On the Ukrainian side, there was therefore no question of a truce and kyiv never undertook to hold a ceasefire.
Especially since Friday noon, the Russians have not lowered their arms. Friday and Saturday there was Russian shelling of Kherson, Kramatorsk, Zaporizhia and the Chernihiv region. And fierce fighting has been going on for 48 hours in the locality of Soledar, on the outskirts of Bakhmout, in Donbass.
All weekend, the Russian forces, and in particular the Wagner militia, tried to gain a foothold in Soledar, especially during the day, while the special forces and the Ukrainian paratroopers seemed to counter-attack at night and partially recover these positions.
political maneuver
Elsewhere, there may have been a certain form of fighting inertia, linked to this symbolic date of Christmas, but in the main theaters of operations, there was no ceasefire.
Lately, the Kremlin is trying to give a religious dimension to the war. The idea is simple: by declaring this “truce”, Vladimir Putin cheaply passes himself off as an actor of good will, and he can afford to accuse kyiv of portraying Ukraine as the obstacle to peace. , while appearing as the protector of Orthodox Christians.
But in reality, the objective of the Kremlin absolutely does not change, it is always a question of forcing kyiv to accept a capitulation, on the conditions of Moscow.
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