Russia announced a unilateral ceasefire last week, but there seems to be little sign of it in Ukraine. In its situation report, the British secret service writes that the fighting is continuing at a “routine level”. Meanwhile, Moscow reports a repelled drone attack.
According to state information, the Russian air defense has repelled another drone attack on Crimea. Moscow illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. The unmanned flying object was shot down early in the morning over a pier near Sevastopol, the naval base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the city’s governor, Mikhail Rasvoschaev, wrote in his Telegram channel, according to the state agency TASS. The port has been the target of Ukrainian drone attacks on several occasions, most recently on January 4 when two drones were shot down.
Despite the ceasefire unilaterally announced by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, renewed fighting has broken out in Ukraine. As the British secret service announced in its update, the fighting on both sides continued at a “routine level”. The 36-hour ceasefire, which was due to begin Friday noon Moscow time (10:00 a.m. CET), would have been the first ceasefire along the entire frontline since Russia’s war of aggression began on February 24 last year. The Orthodox Churches of Ukraine traditionally celebrate Christmas on January 7th.
Rasvozhayev further complained that even the “Holy Christmas” could not prevent the “inhuman beings” from “attacking our hero city”. Ukraine had rejected the ceasefire on the occasion of the Orthodox Christmas celebrations as a hypocritical diversionary maneuver by the Russian attackers. On Friday, the air alert was in place for the entire Ukraine for around two hours – despite the ceasefire. Meanwhile, according to TASS, Putin attended an Orthodox Christmas service in the Kremlin’s Cathedral of the Annunciation.
Russia supplies its occupying forces in southern Ukraine primarily through Crimea. Ukraine is therefore repeatedly targeting logistical and military targets on the peninsula. The recovery of Crimea is also one of Kiev’s declared goals after the Russian war of aggression had increasingly stalled in recent months. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that this could be done through diplomatic or military channels.
