Putin on Thursday instructed his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to introduce a 36-hour ceasefire along the line of contact in Ukraine from Friday noon to midnight January 7, the Kremlin said, according to Polish state news agency PAP.
Putin’s decision came after Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, called for a ceasefire and an Orthodox Christmas truce in Ukraine, news outlets reported.
‘Putin is trying to find some oxygen’: Biden
Biden said Putin’s ceasefire proposal suggested the Kremlin leader was “trying to find some oxygen,” the PAP news agency 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 scepticism 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 on its website.
The State Department added that the United States has “little faith” in the intentions behind the move, according to The Guardian.
‘War will be over when Russian soldiers leave’: Zelensky
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was seeking a Christmas ceasefire as a cover to stop Ukraine’s forces advancing in the eastern Donbas region and to mobilise more men and equipment, Britain’s The Independent newspaper reported.
During a video address to the Ukrainian people on Thursday night, Zelensky also addressed the Russian public, saying that “the war will be over when your soldiers either leave or we drive them out.”
Germany to supply Patriot battery to Ukraine
Meanwhile, the White House said in a statement on Thursday that Germany would "join the United States in supplying an additional Patriot air defense battery to Ukraine."
The decision was unveiled after Thursday’s phone call between Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The two “expressed their common determination to continue to provide the necessary financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine for as long as needed,” according to the White House statement.
The United States "intends to supply Ukraine with Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and Germany intends to provide Ukraine with Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles," officials also announced.
Thursday was day 316 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, The Guardian, The Independent, whitehouse.gov, president.gov.ua