Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin, has directed his defense Secretary to order a temporary seize fire in the ongoing Ukraine military operation to allow celebration for an orthodox Christmas celebration. The Seize fire will take effect for 36hrs starting from noon of the 6th through the 7th of January as a tradition celebrated by many orthodox Christians in Russia. Accordingly, the Russian president made the pronouncement in response to an earlier call by the country’s Patriarch Kirill demanding guns to go on silent while the orthodox celebrate its holiday.
According to the Kremlin press service, the statement reads, “Due to the fact that a large number of citizens of the Orthodox faith live in several areas of the conflict zone, we call on the Ukrainian side to observe a ceasefire and allow them to visit Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services,” said a statement posted to the Kremlin website.
Patriarch Kirill has been a keen supporter of the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine including telling Russian soldiers that dying for the cause would “wash away all their sins.”
Earlier today, it was learned that Turkish President, Recep Tayyib Erdogan has urged Putin through a telephone call that he should implement a unilateral cease-fire in an effort to end the aggression.
However, Putin demanded as a condition for the cease-fire, Ukraine should accept Moscow’s recent annexation of four regions of Ukraine before any serious peace negotiations could begin.
The annexation by the Russian forces has been widely condemned as illegal by many, although the Russian forces have struggled to maintain control of the territories.
