Saturday, Ukrainians celebrated Orthodox Christmas underground as Russian missiles continued to bombard the country’s east, despite a ceasefire declared by Vladimir Putin for Christmas.
Putin’s 36-hour ceasefire was scheduled to begin at midday Moscow time on Friday, the eve of Orthodox Christmas, and continue until Saturday at midnight. The Kyiv independent claimed that bombs persisted throughout the Ukrainian celebrations, resulting in at least three deaths and fourteen injuries.
The Ukraine Ministry of Defense reported that the deceased included a 66-year-old male and a 61-year-old woman in the strategically significant city of Bakhmut, located in the eastern Donbas region, where ferocious warfare has raged for months despite significant Russian losses.
During a 36-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas, plumes of smoke erupt from a Russian bombing.
Saturday, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence posted a video to social media claiming to show Chechen volunteers fighting Russian troops in city hotspots.
The majority of Chechens fighting in the war support Russia.
In the meantime, civilians in Bakhmut have established “invincibility centers” that provide internet, phone connections, heat, water, and electricity to those whose services have been disrupted by the Russian bombardment, which has destroyed a significant portion of the region’s basic infrastructure.
“When Putin says there is a ceasefire, the reality is the opposite: there is no ceasefire,” humanitarian worker Vasyl Liesen explained.
“They bombarded us heavily yesterday. During the night, the weather was relatively calm. However, this is typical: one day there is shelling and the following day it is quieter.”
Liesen reported that several volunteers sustained injuries during the attacks, including one who lost a limb and was evacuated from Bakhmut.
In the adjoining village of Chasiv Yar, Eastern Orthodox parishioners observed the festival in a bunker in the basement of an apartment building while Russian artillery and fighter jets rained down outside.
Ukrainian servicemen arrive to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra to attend the Christmas service.
Barron’s said that only nine people attended the impromptu church service, since many neighbors had evacuated the neighborhood.
It’s rare here,” Zinaida Artyukhina. “Today is my first visit to the cellar. Thank God we even gathered.”
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