Russia’s announcement of a ceasefire in Ukraine on the occasion of the Orthodox Christmas “will not contribute to the prospects for peace”, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said on Thursday, according to AFP.

Russia must permanently withdraw its forces, relinquish its illegal control over Ukrainian territory, and stop its barbaric attacks on innocent civilians,” the foreign minister added on Twitter.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Thursday that Russia was seeking a ceasefire to use it as a cover to stop Ukraine’s advance in Donbas in the east of the country and bring in more men and equipment, Reuters reported.

Joe Biden said Thursday that Vladimir Putin was trying to “give himself a break” by declaring a truce in Ukraine on Orthodox Christmas, the first major truce since the start of the Russian invasion, AFP reported.

The Russian president “was ready to bomb hospitals, maternity homes and churches (…) on December 25 and on New Year’s Eve (…) I think he is trying to give himself a break,” Biden said in a speech at the White House.

And German diplomats said on Thursday that the “so-called” Russian ceasefire in Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas will not bring “neither freedom nor security to the people who live in fear every day under the Russian occupation,” reports AFP.

“If Putin wanted peace, he would have brought his soldiers home and the war would have ended. But it seems he wants to continue the war after a short break,” Foreign Minister Annalena Burbok complained on Twitter.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his army to observe a truce in Ukraine for Orthodox Christmas on January 6-7, the first major truce since the invasion began nearly a year ago.

Ukraine called the ceasefire “hypocrisy”, accusing Moscow of wanting to “buy time”.

“A cynical trap and an element of propaganda,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, responded on Twitter.

He says that the Russian Orthodox Church is not an authority for world Orthodoxy and acts only as a “propagandist of war.”

Address of the Patriarch of Russia Kirill

Patriarch Kirill of Russia called for a truce between Russia and Ukraine during the celebration of the Old Rite Christmas.

“I, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, appeal to all parties to the conflict to cease fire and establish a Christmas truce from January 6, 12:00 to January 7 (midnight), so that the Orthodox can attend services on Christmas Eve and Christmas,” — it is stated in the address of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, published on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7 according to the old Julian calendar.

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