Russia’s Putin orders 36-hour weekend ceasefire in Ukraine

The order follows a proposal by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, earlier in the day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone to seven-year-old David Shmelev from Stavropol Krai region, a participant of the Fir Tree of Wishes charity campaign via videoconference from the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Moscow’s armed forces to observe a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine this weekend for the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday, the first such sweeping truce move in the nearly 11-month-old war.

Mr Putin did not appear to make his ceasefire order conditional on a Ukrainian agreement to follow suit, and it was not clear whether hostilities would actually halt on the 1,100-kilometre (684-mile) front line.