German diplomats said on Thursday that the “so-called” Russian ceasefire in Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas will bring “neither freedom nor security to the people who live in fear every day under Russian occupation”, according to 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.”

US President Joe Biden said that Vladimir Putin is trying to “give himself a break”.

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.

• Olaf Scholz is under increasing pressure from his own ruling coalition to send heavy weapons to Ukraine