Russia Announces Christmas Ceasefire in Ukraine on January 6–7

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a ceasefire along the entire line of contact in Ukraine to celebrate Orthodox Christmas, Jan. 7.

"In accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation instructed the troops to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine for 36 hours from 12:00 on January 6 to 24:00 on January 7," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

Earlier Thursday, the Russian president instructed the Russian defense minister to introduce a temporary ceasefire.

"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 ceasefire and allow them to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day," Putin's instructions read.

Reacting to Putin’s announcement, the Pentagon said “here is skepticism about the Russians honoring the ceasefire.”

"Understandably, I think that there's significant skepticism both here in the U.S. and around the world right now given Russia's long track record of propaganda, disinformation and its relentless attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. "If Russia was truly interested in ceasing the violence and the bloodshed that they have brought to Ukraine's people, they would pull out of Ukraine immediately."

"While Russia seems to be pretty good at exporting violence, they don't seem to be pretty good at exporting the truth," Ryder said.