Ukraine hails US aid amid ‘ceasefire’

HANNA ARHIROVA and ANDREW MELDRUM (Associated Press) | January 8, 2023

Ukraine’s president has praised the US for including tank-killing armoured vehicles in its latest multibillion-dollar military aid package, saying they are “exactly what is needed” for the combat against Russian forces.

The White House announcement of $3.75 billion in weapons and other aid for Ukraine and its European backers came as Moscow said its troops were observing a ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas.

Ukrainian officials denounced the unilateral 36-hour pause as a ploy and said it was being ignored by Moscow forces pressing ahead with the nearly 11-month invasion. 

Ukrainian officials reported Russian shelling attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions on Saturday.

Russia’s Defence Ministry insisted its forces along the 1,100-kilometre front line were observing the Kremlin-ordered truce, but returned fire when attacked.

In his nightly televised address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the US aid package as “very powerful.”

“For the first time, we will get Bradley armoured vehicles — this is exactly what is needed. New guns and rounds, including high-precision ones, new rockets, new drones. It is timely and strong,” he said.

He thanked US President Joe Biden, US lawmakers and “all the Americans who appreciate freedom, and who know that freedom is worth protecting.”

The Orthodox Christmas holiday celebrated on January 7 also underscored the enmity that Russia’s invasion is precipitating.

In a revered cathedral in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, the Christmas service was delivered in the Ukrainian language — instead of Russian — for the first time in decades, highlighting how Ukraine is seeking to jettison Moscow’s remaining influences over religious, cultural and economic life in the country.

The Putin-ordered Christmas ceasefire was first proposed by the Russian Orthodox Church’s Kremlin-aligned head, Patriarch Kirill. Putin’s order said a ceasefire would allow worshippers in combat zones to attend Christmas services.

But Ukrainian and Western officials portrayed the announcement as a Russian attempt to grab the moral high ground and possibly snatch battlefield initiative and momentum from Ukrainian forces amid their counteroffensive of recent months.

The pause was due to end Saturday night — at midnight Moscow time, (0800 AEDT).

The Ministry of Defence in Britain said in its daily readout on the invasion that “fighting has continued at a routine level into the Orthodox Christmas period.”

In the fiercely contested Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, regional Governor Serhiy Haidai reported continued Russian shelling and assaults. Haidai said that in the first three hours of the cease-fire, Russian forces shelled Ukrainian positions 14 times and stormed one settlement three times. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian forces carried out a missile strike and 20 salvos with rockets, targetting settlements in the east, northeast and south.

The head of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Saturday reported two civilian deaths the previous day from Russian strikes in the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut and to its north, in Krasna Hora.

In the southern Kherson region, Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said Russian forces shelled 39 times on Friday, hitting houses and apartment buildings, as well as a fire station. One person was killed and seven others were wounded.