Ukraine and the West characterized the ceasefire announced by President Vladimir Putin as a cynical hoax.
Ceasefire violations were reported by both Ukraine and Russia, while Western foreign and defense ministries feared Russian military reinforcements during the 36 hours of the called ceasefire.
Shortly before midnight, local time, and the time when the ceasefire would still apply from the Russian side, AFP’s dispatched reporter heard several explosions in the garrison town of Kramatorsk.
Russian military later said that Ukrainian forces were attacked as a sort of revenge for the New Year’s Eve attack on Russian forces in Makijivka.
Christmas celebration in the shadow of war
Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said about 600 Ukrainian soldiers had been “eliminated”. In a statement from the Russian defense, it was later said that all had been killed. The attack has not been commented on from the Ukrainian side.
The attack was, if the reports are correct, the deadliest in connection with the Orthodox Christmas celebrations in both Ukraine and Russia, which honor Christmas Day according to the Julian calendar. However, reports of shelling, attacks and fighting were reported from several of the fronts in eastern Ukraine.
In hotly contested Bakhmut in Donetsk, one civilian was killed by Russian fire and another eight were injured, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. In the neighboring region of Luhansk, fierce fighting has been going on at Kreminna, according to Governor Serhij Hajdaj.
At the same time, Ukrainians could celebrate Christmas in the country’s most important churches, such as St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. There, the service was held in Ukrainian, for the first time in a long time, when the Eastern Orthodox Church broke with the Russian Orthodox community in Moscow.
Limited electricity consumption
The Ukrainians’ power supply must be limited. Between nine o’clock in the morning and midnight, restrictions apply in all regions and if a household uses more than it is allowed, the electricity is turned off completely, the Ukrainian energy authority Ukrenergo announced via the Telegram social network.
The reason is the severely strained, and partly destroyed, power supply network after the fall and winter Russian robot and drone attacks against civilian targets.