(Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Ukraine and the West had reacted “cynically” to a 36-hour ceasefire proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to mark Orthodox Christmas.
“We met with a cynical reaction from Kyiv and a number of Western leaders,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing.
Russia says the truce was announced for humanitarian purposes so that Orthodox Christians could celebrate Christmas, but Ukraine says Russian troops shelled dozens of positions and settlements along the front line on Saturday, when the truce was meant to be in effect.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Gareth Jones)
