Kyiv life carries on as Russian ceasefire kicks in
STORY: On Friday morning - Christmas Eve for Russians and many Ukrainians - Russian shells hit Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian city near the frontline in the industrial Donetsk region that Russia claims as its territory, the city mayor said.
In a surprise, last minute announcement on Thursday (January 5), Putin unilaterally ordered his troops to observe a ceasefire from Friday to run through the Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, a move that was rejected as a trick by Ukraine and its allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the idea out of hand, saying the goal was to halt the progress of Ukraine's forces in Donetsk and the wider eastern Donbas region and bring in more of Moscow's forces.
