Ukraine’s leader accused Moscow of using Orthodox holiday as battlefield ruse
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Thursday that the Christmas cessation of hostilities offered by Russia was merely a ruse to improve Moscow’s standing on the battlefield, calling on Russians to overthrow their government instead.
In a video message to Ukrainians, Zelensky said he had offered a “peace plan” to Moscow in December, starting with the withdrawal of all Russian troops from territories claimed by Kiev on Christmas.
“Now they want to use Christmas as cover, to stop the advance of our boys in Donbass for a bit and bring up their equipment, ammunition and mobilized [troops] to the front,” Zelensky said, claiming this will only result in more Russian casualties.
Kiev’s troops have made no advances in Donbass for the past several weeks. The few reports coming from the embattled city of Bakhmut/Artyomovsk speak of high casualties among Ukrainian soldiers.
“Everyone in the world knows how the Kremlin uses ceasefires to continue the war with renewed vigor,” Zelensky said in the video message. What is needed for the conflict to end, he argued, is to overthrow President Vladimir Putin.
Prior to Zelensky’s statement, his aides have rejected any notion of a ceasefire. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said such a proposal “can not and should not be taken seriously.” Alexey Danilov, head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, dismissed any ceasefire as “lies and hypocrisy,” while Zelensky’s adviser Mikhail Podoliak called it “a cynical trap and an element of propaganda.”
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, had requested a 36-hour cessation of hostilities, starting at noon local time on Friday. Christmas Day falls on January 7 in the Julian calendar, used for liturgical scheduling by the churches in Russia and Ukraine.
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com
