Russia government has officially ruled out ‘Christmas ceasefire’ in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Zelenskiy had called on Russia to start withdrawing its troops by Christmas as the first step towards a peace deal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday there would be no peace with Kyiv until Zelenskiy accepted the “realities” on the ground – referring to Russian control over parts of four Ukrainian regions it annexed in September following coercive and illegal “referendums”.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, then said in his regular evening video address on Wednesday that:
‘There is no calm on the frontline,
‘Every day and every metre is given extremely hard. And especially where the entire tactic of the occupiers boils down to the destruction of everything in front of them with artillery – so that only bare ruins and craters in the ground remain.’
Asked on Wednesday whether Moscow had seen proposals for a “Christmas ceasefire”, the Kremlin spokesman said: ‘No, no such offers have been received from anybody. This topic is not on the agenda.’
Now that the situation is as it is now, military analysts around the world have predicted that a winter deadlock could now set in, even as fierce fighting continues especially in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, where Russian forces are pushing to capture the town of Bakhmut.
The White House national security spokesman, John Kirby said in response to a question about the prospects for a negotiated peace with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin:
‘Just given what we’re seeing in the air and on the ground in Ukraine, it’s difficult to conclude that this war will be over by year’s end.
‘So there is active fighting going on right now. We would expect that that will continue for some time going forward.’
Meanwhile, Canada has declared on Wednesday it would revoke a sanctions waiver that allowed turbines for Nord Stream 1, Russia’s biggest gas pipeline to Europe, to be repaired in Montreal and returned to Germany.
The pipeline was hit by a series of explosions and was heavily damaged a month after it was shut down for repairs on 31 August but not restarted.
Despite Russia refusing the ‘Christmas ceasefire’ peace movement, it is worth noting that hundreds of prisoners have been freed in swaps in recent weeks between Russia and the U.S. – the latest exchange of dozens of detainees included a US citizen, Kyiv and Washington.
Likewise, Ukraine, in recent weeks, has pushed for more captives to be returned as part of talks with Russian representatives seeking the reopening of an ammonia gas pipeline through Ukraine.
