Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defense minister to implement a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine for 36 hours this week. His order came after the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, called for a ceasefire between January 6 and January 7, when many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas. “Based on the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the combat areas, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease-fire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ,” Putin’s order said.

Ukraine dismissed Putin's call for a temporary ceasefire as "hypocrisy". "Now they want to use Christmas as a cover to at least briefly stop the advance of our guys in Donbas and redeploy their equipment, ammunition and mobilized men closer to our positions", Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Putin's proposal was "purely a propaganda gesture" aimed to buy time for under-pressure Kremlin troops, Reuters reported. “Russia must leave the occupied territories - only then will it have a "temporary truce". Keep hypocrisy to yourself”, Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.

“I am reluctant to respond to anything Putin says. I found it interesting he was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on December 25 and New Year’s Eve”, Us President Joe Biden said.

Germany will join the United States in supplying an additional Patriot air defense battery to Ukraine,President Joe Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a joint statement. The U.S. will send Ukraine nearly $3 billion in military aid, in a massive new package that will for the first time include several dozen Bradley fighting vehicles.France will send AMX-10 RC armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine to help it fight Russia's aggression