Putin orders weekend truce; Zelenskyy questions move

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his armed forces to observe a unilateral 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Orthodox Christmas holiday, the first such sweeping truce move in the nearly 11-month-old war. Kyiv indicated it wouldn't follow suit.

Putin did not appear to condition his ceasefire order on Ukraine's acceptance and it wasn't clear whether hostilities would actually pause on the 684-mile frontline or elsewhere. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian move as playing for time to regroup its invasion forces and prepare additional attacks.

At various points during the war that began

Feb. 24, Russian authorities have ordered limited, local truces to allow civilian evacuations or other humanitarian purposes. Thursday's order was the first time Putin has directed his troops to observe a cease-fire throughout Ukraine.

“Based on the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the combat areas, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease-fire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ,” Putin's order said.

The order didn't specify whether it would apply to both offensive and defensive operations. It wasn't clear, for example, whether Russia would strike back if Ukraine kept fighting.

Ukrainian officials from Zelenskky on down dismissed Putin's moves.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy stopped short of saying his forces would reject Putin's request to suspend fighting, instead questioning the Russian leadership's motives.

“Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to stop the advance of our guys in the Donbas for a while and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilized people closer to our positions,” Zelenskyy said. “What will it give? Just another increase in the count of losses.”

Zelenskyy claimed that since he unveiled a peace plan in November, almost 110,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, and he accused the Kremlin of planning the fighting pause “to continue the war with renewed vigor.”