Russian and Ukrainian forces have exchanged artillery fire at the front line in Ukraine, even after Moscow said it had ordered its troops to stop shooting for a unilateral truce that was firmly rejected by Kyiv.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the 36-hour ceasefire from midday on Friday (8pm AEDT) to observe Russian Orthodox Christmas. Ukraine has said it has no intention to stop fighting, rejecting the purported truce as a stunt by Moscow to buy time to reinforce troops that have taken heavy losses this week.
"What ceasefire? Can you hear?" said a Ukrainian soldier, using the nom de guerre Vyshnya, as an explosion rang out in the distance at the front line near Kreminna in eastern Ukraine. "What do they want to achieve if they keep on shooting? We know, we have learnt not to trust them."
A local resident runs past a burning house hit by the Russian shelling in Kherson, Ukraine, on the Orthodox Christmas Eve Friday, 6 January, 2023. Source: AAP, AP / LIBKOS
News agency Reuters heard explosions of what Ukrainian troops at the front line described as incoming Russian rocket fire. Ukrainians fired back from tanks.
The Ukrainian troops said it was quieter than many other days because snowy weather had made it hard to fly drones and spot targets.
"The situation today is exactly the same as yesterday, the day before yesterday, last week and last month," said one, concealing his face with a scarf. "There is no point in talking to them, in believing in their promises, orders and decrees."
It was not immediately possible to establish whether there was any reduction in the intensity of fighting at other locations.
Orthodox believers attend a Christmas eve praying service in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, 6 January 2023. Source: EPA / OLEG PETRASYUK/EPA
The Ukrainian governor of the front line eastern Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, said that in the first three hours of the purported ceasefire the Russians had shelled Ukrainian positions 14 times and stormed one settlement three times.
"Orthodox murderers wish you a merry Christmas," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia's Orthodox Church observes Christmas on 7 January. The main Orthodox Church in Ukraine has rejected the authority of Moscow, and many Ukrainian believers have shifted their calendar to celebrate Christmas on 25 December, as in the West.
Mr Putin attended a service by himself inside a Kremlin cathedral rather than joining other worshippers in a public celebration. State television showed two live clips of Mr Putin inside the gilded Cathedral of the Annunciation as Orthodox priests conducted the midnight service, known as the Divine Liturgy.
