What did a Christmas ceasefire look like on the ground?

What did a ceasefire mean when only one side had declared it? On 7 January 2023, the second day of a truce announced by Russia, the question hung over the front line and the cities near it.

The announcement came on 5 January 2023. Following a suggestion from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral ceasefire for 6–7 January, tied to Orthodox Christmas, which is marked under the Julian calendar. As the background to the episode describes it, Putin instructed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to declare a 36-hour pause along the entire line of contact, from midday on 6 January to midnight on 7 to 8 January.

Ukraine did not respond in kind. It rejected an offer of a mutual ceasefire, citing a lack of trust.

Reports from 6 January

The reports from the first day of the declared pause showed why. In Kramatorsk, a front-line city, Russian forces shelled the area and damaged at least fourteen homes, according to the city's mayor. No casualties were reported. Officials of the Donetsk People's Republic, for their part, accused Ukraine of shelling Donetsk with artillery.

Further south, a Russian missile struck near a fire station in Kherson. One person was killed and four were injured, according to regional official Yaroslav Yanushevych.

A different track

The truce was not the only development of that week. On 5 January 2023, the United States and Germany agreed to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Germany also agreed to supply a MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system.

Set side by side, the two announcements pointed in different directions. One was a pause declared by a single party for a religious holiday. The other was a commitment of armoured vehicles and air defence.

By 7 January 2023, the picture was a plain one. A unilateral ceasefire had been announced, the other side had declined to mirror it, and the reports from the previous day described shelling and a deadly missile strike rather than quiet. Whether the pause could be called a ceasefire at all was a question the reports from Kramatorsk and Kherson answered for themselves.