© Reuters. In the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Ukraine, December 30, 2022, Ukrainian soldiers ride an Armoured Personnel Carrier (“APC”) as Russia continues to attack Ukraine. REUTERS/Yevhen Titov
(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded a 36-hour ceasefire for Ukraine in celebration of Orthodox Christmas. This was rejected by Kyiv, which stated that there would be no truce until Russia withdraws troops from occupied territory.
TRUCE OFFER
* The Kremlin said Putin had ordered Russian troops to cease firing from midday on Friday along the entire front, in response to a call for a Christmas truce from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a close Putin ally.
* Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak tweeted back that Russia “must leave the occupied territories – only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’. You can keep your hypocrisy private.”* The United States greeted Putin’s order with scepticism, calling it “cynical” and raising concern Russia would use the temporary pause to regroup.
DIPLOMACY/AID
* A new U.S. weapons package for Ukraine will be worth roughly $2.8 billion, U.S. officials told Reuters.* The leaders of the United States and Germany on Thursday announced they were sending armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine after a similar move by France earlier this week.
* The Kremlin said Putin told Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow was ready for peace talks – but only under the condition that Ukraine “take into account the new territorial realities”, a reference to Kyiv acknowledging Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territory.
* Ukraine’s Podolyak called that demand “fully unacceptable”.
FIGHTING
* Ukrainian and Russian troops battled in eastern regions as Kyiv tried to push back occupying forces, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to provide his army with heavy tanks.
* The Ukrainian military said the Russians were focused on an offensive in the Bakhmut sector of the Donetsk region.
* Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
ECONOMY
* Ukraine’s gross domestic product fell by 30.4% in 2022 – the largest annual fall in more than 30 years – because of the war with Russia, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
QUOTE
* The Secretary of Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danylov, tweeted: “A ceasefire? Lying and hypocrisy. In the Ukrainian night’s singing silence, we will bite you.”