and shejoins me now in the studio. tell us more about this ceasefire and how has ukraine reacted ? according to the kremlin statement this is not some form of deescalation nor are they mentioning any sort of russian troop back down in any way. instead, president putin is pointing to an appeal by the head of the russian orthodox church was a long time putin ally who has read wasted the ability for russian christians to be able to attend a russian christmas which is onjanuary seven for the orthodox church. in terms of how the ukrainians have reacted to this, president zelensky flat out rejected it and questioned true motives. it is worth listening to him explain that in his own words to insulation mac now they want to insulation mac now they want to use christmas as a cover to at least briefly stop the advance of our guys in don bass and bring equipment ammunition are mostly mobilised men closer
By all accounts, what Ukraine has accomplished in holding back Russia is “a miracle.” “Ten months ago.Putin thought that he’d be in the middle of Kyiv celebrating a Russian Christmas,” says Terrell Jermaine Starr. A non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and host of the ‘Black Diplomats’ podcast, Starr has been working and studying in Ukraine for years. “Putin doesn’t understand the Ukrainian people.” Despite Russia’s attack on key civilian infrastructure, many Ukrainians would rather freeze to death than to be forced to live under Russian rule, reports Starr. “Eight years ago Ukraine was a military on paper.Now, that they are able to fight back Russia eight years later? It’s a miracle.”