Thursday, December 15, 2022

No Christmas Ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia Says, as Winter Deadlock Sets In

THE GUARDIAN: Kremlin rejects Zelenskiy call for troop withdrawals, saying Ukraine must accept Russia’s territorial gains, as Canada reinstates Nord Stream sanctions

A street decorated with Christmas lights in Lviv, Ukraine. Russia has said a Christmas ceasefire in its war is ‘not on the agenda’. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Moscow has said no “Christmas ceasefire” was on the cards after nearly 10 months of war in Ukraine, with fighting looking set to drag on through the winter.

“There is no calm on the frontline,” the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in his regular evening video address on Wednesday. “Every day and every metre is given extremely hard. And especially where the entire tactic of the occupiers boils down to the destruction of everything in front of them with artillery – so that only bare ruins and craters in the ground remain.”

Asked on Wednesday whether Moscow had seen proposals for a “Christmas ceasefire”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, no such offers have been received from anybody. This topic is not on the agenda.” » | Agencies | Thursday, December 15, 2022