Putin orders 36-hour ceasefire from noon tomorrow

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour ceasefire from 12 noon Moscow time (0900 GMT) tomorrow Friday along the entire frontline in Ukraine, the Kremlin said. 

According to the Russian presidency's note, the head of state's decision is in response to Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill's call for a Christmas truce, which Orthodox believers celebrate on January 7.  

"Due to the fact that a large number of Orthodox citizens live in the zone of military actions, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire regime to allow them to go to churches on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day," the official statement said. 

Hours earlier, Kiril had called for a truce so that the faithful could celebrate Christmas. "I, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, call on all parties involved in this internecine conflict to a ceasefire and establish a Christmas truce," he said in his appeal, published on the IOR website. 

The truce proposed by the religious leader to allow believers to go to churches on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was due to come into effect at 12 noon Moscow time (0900 GMT) tomorrow (Friday) and would run until midnight (2100 GMT) on the 7th, the same deadline as the ceasefire ordered by Putin. 

It is the first time the Russian president has called a ceasefire on all fronts since he launched his military campaign in Ukraine on 24 February with the aim of "denazifying and demilitarising" the neighbouring country. 

Kirill's appeal was not well received in Kiev. "The IOR's statement on a 'Christmas truce' is a cynical trap and an element of propaganda," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak wrote on Twitter.