2023-01-05

TREGUA DE NAVIDAD ASI LO VE EL PERIODICO DE CALIFORNIA LA PARECE SER QUE LOS UCRANIOS ESTÁN PERDIENDO LA GUERRA QUEC CAUSA MILES DE VICTIMAS

 

Putin orders 36-hour holiday truce for Russian troops in Ukraine

People carrying away the body of a man in Kherson, Ukraine
Residents carry the body of a 20-year-old man killed in Russian shelling in Kherson, Ukraine, on Thursday.
(Libkos)
 

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

Putin did not appear to make his cease-fire order conditional on a Ukrainian agreement to follow suit, and it wasn’t clear whether hostilities would actually halt on the nearly 700-mile front line. Ukrainian officials have previously dismissed Russian peace moves as playing for time to regroup and prepare additional attacks.

At various points during the war, which started Feb. 24, 2022, Putin has ordered limited and local truces to allow evacuations of civilians or for other humanitarian purposes. Thursday’s order was the first time he directed his troops to observe a cease-fire throughout Ukraine.

“Based on the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the combat areas, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease-fire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ,” according to Putin’s order, addressed to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and published on the Kremlin’s website.

A woman sits with others and a coffin in a boat crossing a river, with a ruined bridge in the background.
A woman sits in a boat crossing the Siverskyi-Donets river in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Wednesday, transporting the coffin containing the body of her son, a soldier killed in fighting with Russians.
(Erik Marmor / Associated Press)

While not necessarily the final official word back from Kyiv, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Russian forces “must leave the occupied territories — only then will it have a ‘temporary truce.’ Keep hypocrisy to yourself.”

President Biden declined to comment directly but said at the White House on Thursday it was “interesting” that Putin was ready to bomb hospitals, nurseries and churches on Christmas and New Year’s. “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen,” he said.

Putin acted at the suggestion of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who proposed a truce from noon Friday through midnight Saturday night, local time. The Russian Orthodox Church, which uses the ancient Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7 — later than under the Gregorian calendar — and some Christians in Ukraine also mark the holiday on that date.

Podolyak had earlier dismissed Kirill’s call as “a cynical trap and an element of propaganda.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had proposed a Russian troop withdrawal earlier, before Dec. 25, but Russia rejected it.

Kirill has previously justified Russia’s war in Ukraine as part of a “metaphysical struggle” to prevent liberal ideological encroachment from the West.

Independent political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya said Putin’s cease-fire order is intended to make him look reasonable and interested in peace. The move “fits well into Putin’s logic, in which Russia is acting on the right side of history and fighting for justice,” she said.

“We must not forget that in this war, Putin feels like a ‘good guy,’ doing good not only for himself and the ‘brotherly nations,’ but also for the world he’s freeing from the ‘hegemony’ of the United States,” Stanovaya, founder of the independent R.Politik think tank, wrote on Telegram.

She also linked Putin’s move to Ukrainian forces’ recent strike on Makiivka that killed at least 89 Russian servicemen. “He really doesn’t want to get something like that for Christmas,” the analyst said.

On the rainy streets of Kyiv, some questioned the Russians’ sincerity in discussing a truce.

“Shall we believe Russians?” wondered Svitlana Zhereva after Kirill’s proposal. “On the one hand they have given their blessing to the war and to kill, and on the other hand they want to present themselves as saints who are against blood-spilling. But they should be judged by their actions.”

Putin issued the truce order after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged him in a phone call Thursday to implement a “unilateral cease-fire,” according to the Turkish president’s office. The Kremlin said Putin “reaffirmed Russia’s openness to a serious dialogue” with Ukrainian authorities.

Erdogan also told Zelensky later by telephone that Turkey was ready to mediate a “lasting peace.” Erdogan has made such offers frequently. Turkey has already helped broker a deal allowing Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain, and it has facilitated a prisoner swap.

Russia’s professed readiness came with the usual strings attached: that “Kyiv authorities fulfill the well-known and repeatedly stated demands and recognize new territorial realities,” the Kremlin said, in a reference to Moscow’s demand that Ukraine recognize Crimea as part of Russia and acknowledge other illegal territorial gains.

Previous attempts at brokering peace talks have fallen at that hurdle, as Ukraine demands that, at the very least, Russia withdraw from occupied areas.

Elsewhere, the head of NATO said he detected no change in Moscow’s stance on Ukraine, insisting that the Kremlin “wants a Europe where they can control a neighboring country.”

“We have no indications that President Putin has changed his plans, his goals for Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a speech in Oslo.

Individual NATO countries are stepping up their military aid of Ukraine with increasingly advanced weapons.

In the latest pledge, the French Defense Ministry said it planned talks soon with its Ukrainian counterpart on the delivery of armored combat vehicles. France’s presidency says it would be the first time this type of Western-made wheeled tank destroyer was sent to the Ukrainian military.

Also, Biden said Bradley fighting vehicles, a medium armored combat vehicle that can serve as a troop carrier, could be sent to Ukraine.

While more weapons arrive, the battlefield situation appears to have settled into a stalemate, increasingly a war of attrition. As winter sets in, troop and equipment mobility is more limited.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, said Thursday that at least five civilians were killed and eight wounded across the country by Russian shelling over the previous 24 hours.

The ongoing intense battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut has left 60% of the city in ruins, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said in televised remarks Thursday. Ukrainian defenders were still holding the Russians back, but the Kremlin’s forces have pummeled the city with shelling.

Taking the city in the eastern Donbas region, an expansive industrial heartland bordering Russia, would not only offer Putin a major battlefield gain after months of setbacks but also would rupture Ukraine’s supply lines and open a route for Russian forces to press on toward key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk.

In what appeared to be a move to entice more men to join the fight, the first convicts recruited for battle by the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor, received a promised government pardon after serving six months on the front line.

A video released by Russia’s state RIA Novosti news agency showed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group’s millionaire owner, shaking hands with about 20 pardoned men.

The White House said last month that Wagner had some 50,000 personnel fighting in Ukraine, including 40,000 recruited convicts. The U.S. assesses that Wagner is spending about $100 million a month in the fight.


NAVIDAD ORTODOXA EN BULGARIA

 


Christmas in Sofia. The Church of St. Sophia

Photogallery

Jonathan Dunne, an author and photographer living in Sofia, Bulgaria, took these photos of Christmas day Services at the ancient Church of St. Sophia in the Bulgarian Capital. This is the sequel to his photogallergy of Christmas Eve.

Statue of Tsar Samuel (997-1014) outside St Sophia Church

Statue of Tsar Samuel (997-1014) outside St Sophia Church

St Sophia Church from the south, with the Monument to the Unknown Soldier

St Sophia Church from the south, with the Monument to the Unknown Soldier

Grave-monument to the Bulgarian poet Ivan Vazov

Grave-monument to the Bulgarian poet Ivan Vazov

Plaque commemorating the non-deportation of Bulgarian Jews from Bulgaria during World War II

Plaque commemorating the non-deportation of Bulgarian Jews from Bulgaria during World War II

St. Sophia Church, the nave

St. Sophia Church, the nave

Copy of Rublev’s Trinity

Copy of Rublev’s Trinity

Fr. Stefan during Matins

Fr. Stefan during Matins

The Crucifixion scene and lamps behind the altar

The Crucifixion scene and lamps behind the altar

The beginning of the liturgy, with Fr. Lachezar holding the Gospel

The beginning of the liturgy, with Fr. Lachezar holding the Gospel

The nave during the liturgy

The nave during the liturgy

The iconostasis. Note the Classical Greek influence. This is the oldest church in Sofia. The present church was built in the sixth century during the reign of Justinian. An earlier church was visited by St. Athanasios of Alexandria when he attend

The iconostasis. Note the Classical Greek influence. This is the oldest church in Sofia. The present church was built in the sixth century during the reign of Justinian. An earlier church was visited by St. Athanasios of Alexandria when he attend

The service book on the altar

The service book on the altar

The Holy Gifts

The Holy Gifts

The altar servers

The altar servers

Waving of the aer during the Creed

Waving of the aer during the Creed

Consecration of the Holy Gifts

Consecration of the Holy Gifts

Blessing of the naphora

Blessing of the naphora

Fr. Lachezar with the nave behind him

Fr. Lachezar with the nave behind him

The congregation during the liturgy

The congregation during the liturgy

The Body of Christ

The Body of Christ

Fr. Sava taking Communion

Fr. Sava taking Communion

Fr. Stefan awaiting Communion

Fr. Stefan awaiting Communion

Icons at the east end of the church

Icons at the east end of the church

Fr. Eftimiy cutting the Body of Christ for the chalice

Fr. Eftimiy cutting the Body of Christ for the chalice

Naphora awaiting distribution

Naphora awaiting distribution

Holy Communion

Holy Communion

Holy Communion

Holy Communion

Holy Communion

Holy Communion

Wine for after Communion

Wine for after Communion

Icon of St. Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope, and Love. See how Faith looks up, Hope looks down (is humble), and Love looks all around

Icon of St. Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope, and Love. See how Faith looks up, Hope looks down (is humble), and Love looks all around

Iliyana in front of the Christmas tree

Iliyana in front of the Christmas tree

The queue for Communion

The queue for Communion

Mosaic icon of Christ on the iconostasis

Mosaic icon of Christ on the iconostasis

View of the nave from the choir loft

View of the nave from the choir loft

The choir

The choir

Fr. Lachezar delivering the Sermon

Fr. Lachezar delivering the Sermon

KIEV RECHAZA LA OFERTA DE UNA TREGUA DE DIOS PARA LA NAVIDAD ORTODOXA OFERTADA POR RUSIA SON JUDIOS Y NO CREEN EN CRISTO