Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has ordered troops to observe a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine – to allow people to attend services on Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
But Ukrainian officials called the move “hypocrisy” and rejected a call from Mr Putin for Kyiv to reciprocate.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin had ordered a ceasefire from midday on Friday after a call for a Christmas truce from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said Russia “must leave the occupied territories - only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’... Keep hypocrisy to yourself.”
US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House that Mr Putin was clearly "trying to find some oxygen" by floating the potential truce.
It comes as France’s president Emmanuel Macron has pledged to send Ukraine light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles, in a call with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
The West’s collective aid does not match the requirements of heavier tanks that Mr Zelensky wants, and comes as Vladimir Putin sent a frigate to the Atlantic Ocean armed with hypersonic Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s intelligence directorate believes Mr Putin will be forced to announce a second mobilisation before April, a Ukrainian minister claimed.
