Despite “ceasefire,” artillery shells are fired towards Ukraine’s front lines

Despite Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s claims that he ordered his soldiers to observe a 36-hour ceasefire for the Orthodox Christmas, Russian and Ukrainian artillery have continued to pound targets in the war-torn eastern Ukraine.

On Friday, after the start of Moscow’s order for its forces to maintain a unilateral ceasefire from midday in observance of the Russian holiday, exchanges of artillery fire were reported along the front lines of the Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut and Kreminna, as well as other locations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Before the truce was to start at noon Moscow time, Russian rockets also rained down on civilian areas in the cities of Kherson and Kramatorsk (09:00 GMT).

What a truce? When an explosion erupted at the front in Kreminna, a Ukrainian soldier asked the news agency Reuters, “Can you hear?”

What do they want to accomplish by continuing to fire? We are aware of this and have grown to distrust them,” the soldier stated.

In Kreminna, Ukrainian forces retaliated with tank fire.

After the scheduled start of the Russian ceasefire, reporters for Agence France-Presse heard both outgoing and incoming shelling at the frontline city of Bakhmut.

According to the Russian defense ministry, its troops started abiding by the truce at noon Moscow time “along the whole line of contact,” but Ukraine has continued to shell civilian targets and military outposts.

Even if Russian military had adhered to the ceasefire, Bakhmut police officer Pavlo Diachenko expressed his skepticism that it would have much of an impact on the civilian population.

What might a religious festival signify to them?

Every day and night, they shell, and virtually every day, someone is murdered, he claimed.

A witness in the regional capital of Donetsk, which is under Russian control, also reported seeing pro-Russian forces on the outskirts of the city firing artillery after the truce was supposed to start.

In the first three hours of the ostensible truce, Russian forces blasted Ukrainian positions 14 times and assaulted one settlement three times, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the frontline eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.