Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky on Thursday accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of using the truce announced by the Kremlin on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas as a military strategy.
«Those who continued terror against our country and sent all those people of theirs to the slaughter, rejecting our offers to stop Russian aggression, certainly do not value life and definitely do not seek peace,» Zelenski has declared during his evening message addressed to Ukrainians.
«Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to stop, at least briefly, the advance of our men in the Donbas and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized men closer to our positions,» he has reproached.
In this regard, the Ukrainian leader pointed out that «everyone knows how the Kremlin takes advantage of breaks in the war to continue with renewed impetus».
Thus, he reiterated that the war will end when their soldiers leave the country or when the Ukrainian troops «kick them out», since «people are tortured, electrocuted, raped (…) every day while their soldiers are on (Ukrainian) soil».
Zelenski «wanted to remind Russian citizens» that the Ukrainian peace proposals «seem» to «not have been heard by the leadership of their country».
In this line, he stressed that on November 15 – when the number of Russian soldiers killed was 82,000 dead – Kiev proposed the withdrawal of troops from the Ukrainian territory, as a «guaranteed and reliable measure of cease-fire, casualties and war».
Subsequently, on December 12, Zelensky sent a peace formula to Putin to withdraw the troops on Christmas Day: «Already on that day, the number of Russian soldiers killed was almost 95,000,» he stressed, while confirming that as of today almost 110,000 servicemen of the Russian troops have died in the war.
After that, the Ukrainian leader assured that «Russia will not be able to hide in silence its preparations for a new wave of aggression against Ukraine and the whole Europe», warning that the details of an escalation «will be known to the world».
«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 for Christmas,» he has ironized in reference to the conditions of Moscow’s ceasefire.
Putin ordered hours earlier that a 36-hour ceasefire be established on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, after Patriarch Kirill, the highest representative of this Church, requested it.
«Taking into account the request of Patriarch Kirill, I urge Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to implement a cease-fire on the entire front line on January 6 from 12.00 (local time),» the Kremlin said in a statement.
Thus, Putin would have stipulated that the truce remain in force until 00.00 on January 8, noting that the measure has been taken «taking into account the large number of citizens professing the Orthodox religion and living in the combat zones».
«We call on the Ukrainian authorities to declare a cease-fire and allow them to attend celebrations on the occasion of Christmas,» which according to Orthodox tradition is celebrated on January 7.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
