Putin breaks his holier than thou ceasefire

Kyiv has accused Moscow of breaking its own ceasefire after the shelling of a fire station in Kherson which killed at least one rescuer.

The attack came despite Vladimir Putin’s proposed 36-hour ceasefire, timed to coincide with Russian Orthodox Christmas.

President Zelensky rejected the truce yesterday, calling it a ploy to halt the Ukrainian advance in the East and bring in more Russian men and equipment.

Ukrainian forces have continued to attack Russian positions, ignoring the ceasefire which would have started at 09:00 GMT.

The Russian President made it clear that the truce was proposed at the request of Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is hand-in-glove with Putin’s regime.

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Day on 7 January. Some Ukrainians also celebrate Christmas on 7 January, others on 25 December. Both days are public holidays in Ukraine. Much to Putin’s displeasure, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine formerly split from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2018.

At home, Putin can spin Kyiv’s rejection of the ceasefire as confirmation that the Ukrainians and their Western backers are the baddies with no desire for peace.

The religious justification for the ceasefire also feeds into one of the big ideas motivating Putin’s war in Ukraine: that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.

Since 2014, the Kremlin and Patriarch Kirill have been promoting the concept of Russkiy Mir – Russian World – “a transnational spiritual realm”, as journalist Luke Harding puts it, comprising of ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers, encompassing Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Putin, who says he was baptised in secret by his mother, has made a show of his profound Orthodox faith over the years and has been pictured with a crucifix around his neck.

Yet divine favour seems to be shining on Ukraine, not Russia, after a diplomatic coup for Kyiv this week. France, Germany and the US have all announced they will be sending tanks to support Zelensky’s troops, the first Western-designed tanks to arrive on the Ukrainian battlefield.

That it was President Emmanuel Macron, far from Kyiv’s staunchest ally, who got the ball rolling was all the more surprising. After announcing on Wednesday that he was sending “light tanks” — AMX-10 RC armoured fighting vehicles – in response to “needs expressed by Ukraine”, Macron was followed by Olaf Scholz and Joe Biden who made similar commitments.

The US will provide the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, while Germany is set to send its Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Neither are the cutting-edge models Zelensky would have hoped for, but the fact tanks are being sent at all is a symbolic watershed.

For months, Zelensky has urged his Western allies to provide more heavy weapons and heavy armoured vehicles. More than half of Ukraine’s tank fleet is believed to be comprised of tanks captured from Russia.

For once, the UK is lagging behind. James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that tanks “may well be part” of future support for Kyiv, but refused to commit to sending any.

There’s a broad consensus among analysts that Russia will attempt a big offensive in the spring, though where its forces will strike is less clear. In case you missed it, Gerald Warner weighs the possibility of a second assault on Kyiv in his brilliant latest column. For Zelensky, wherever Putin chooses to strike, the tanks are a God-send.

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