The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Putin had instructed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to initiate a ceasefire from Friday noon to Saturday midnight Moscow time along the “entire line of contact between parties in Ukraine” and called on Ukraine to accept the ceasefire to allow “a large number of citizens of citizens professing Orthodoxy” to attend services on the day of Orthodox Christmas.
The ISW assessed that "Putin’s announcement that Russian forces will conduct a 36-hour ceasefire between January 6 and January 7 in observance of Russian Orthodox Christmas is likely an information operation intended to damage Ukraine’s reputation."
The Washington-based think tank said that Putin "could have been seeking to secure a 36-hour pause for Russian troops to afford them the ability to rest, recoup, and reorient to relaunch offensive operations in critical sectors of the front."
It added that Putin "cannot reasonably expect Ukraine to meet the terms of this suddenly declared ceasefire and may have called for the ceasefire to frame Ukraine as unaccommodating and unwilling to take the necessary steps towards negotiations."
"This is an intentional information tactic that Russia has previously employed," the ISW also said in its latest analysis of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
It observed that "Putin’s framing of the ceasefire on religious grounds additionally reinforces another two-fold Russian information operation that frames Ukraine as suppressing religious groups and positions Putin as the true protector of the Christian faith. "
The ISW noted that Ukrainian and Western officials, including US President Joe Biden, "immediately highlighted the hypocrisy of the ceasefire announcement and emphasized that Russian forces continued striking Ukrainian military and civilian infrastructure on December 25—when many Orthodox Ukrainians celebrate Christmas—and New Year’s."
Biden said on Thursday that Putin’s ceasefire proposal suggested the Kremlin leader was “trying to find some oxygen,” Polish news agency PAP reported.
Asked about the Russian president’s announcement, Biden told reporters: “I’m reluctant to respond (to) anything Putin says. I found it interesting. He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Year.”
Biden added: “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen."
Earlier, the US Department of State voiced skepticism over Putin’s ceasefire order, describing it as “cynical” in the light of Moscow’s New Year’s Day attack on Ukraine, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
The State Department added that the United States has “little faith” in the intentions behind the move, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russia was seeking a Christmas ceasefire as a cover to stop Ukraine’s forces advancing in the eastern Donbas region and to mobilize more men and equipment, Britain’s The Independent newspaper reported.
Friday is day 317 of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, understandingwar.org
