WAR IN Ukraine: January 6, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 317
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defence minister to impose a 36-hour ceasefire on the Ukrainian front line. The ceasefire - from 12:00 Moscow time (09:00 GMT) - coincides with the Russian Orthodox Christmas. Mr Putin asked Ukraine to reciprocate, but Kyiv quickly rejected the request. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the truce was an attempt to stop his country's military advances in the east of the country. The Kremlin statement appeared to stress that President Putin ordered his troops to stop fighting not because he was de-escalating - Putin never de-escalates - but because he had listened to an appeal from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church - BBC
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials voiced skepticism about the temporary ceasefire, saying Moscow just wanted a pause to gather reserves, equipment and ammunition, CNN reported. During his nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia aims to use Orthodox Christmas “as a cover” to resupply and stop Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbas region. “What will this accomplish? Only another increase in the casualty count,” he added. US President Joe Biden said the maneuver was to give Russian President Vladimir Putin a way to gain “oxygen” to regroup.
Germany will provide Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles and an additional Patriot air defense battery, German ambassador to the US Emily Haber said on Thursday. “Germany will provide Marder infantry fighting vehicles to #Ukraine️. We’ll also join the U.S. in supplying an additional Patriot air defense battery,” she wrote on Twitter. The Marder is an infantry fighting vehicle used by the German military since the early 1970s but continuously upgraded. While the German military is in the process of phasing the vehicle out, hundreds are still in service. An infantry fighting vehicle is a heavily armed armored vehicle used to move soldiers around the battlefield. It’s usually deployed together with main battle tanks - CNN
The United States will supply Ukraine with Bradley fighting vehicles as part of a new security assistance package to the country as it nears the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. The nearly $3 billion package is among the largest packages of military equipment sent from the Pentagon to Ukraine since the war began. It comes as Ukraine prepares for intensive fighting in the spring as the weather warms.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has disbanded a fact-finding mission into an attack in the Ukrainian town of Olenivka that killed prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists because the UN mission cannot deploy to the site - RFE/RL
