Find here all of our live #UKRAINE
10:25 a.m. : It remains to be seen whether the Russian army will actually stop its strikes. Yesterday, the pro-Russian leader of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, announced that his forces will not open fire on the Ukrainian army, but that they reserve the right to respond to possible “Provocation” from Kyiv. “Nor is there any question of giving them the slightest chance, during these festive hours, to improve their positions on the front line.”
10:11 a.m. : The Russian press echoes the entry into force of this truce wanted by Vladimir Putin. “The ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact of the parties in Ukraine has entered into force”writes for example on Telegram on Komsomolskaya Pravda.
10:03 : This is the first major truce since the start of the invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago. It is supposed to last until Saturday evening midnight (10 p.m. French time).
10:05 a.m. : 10 a.m. in France, noon in Moscow. The 36-hour ceasefire ordered by Vladimir Putin on the entire front line on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas comes into effect. Follow our live.
09:40 : Russia’s call for a ceasefire in Ukraine: Is Vladimir Putin looking for a way out? “I doubt it more than strongly,” says Christine Duguoin-Clément, a geopolitics researcher. “Except to confuse truce and total surrender of Ukraine”. https://t.co/ahGavGWfKO
09:40 : Christine Duguoin-Clément, researcher in geopolitics, “strongly doubt” that Vladimir Putin is looking for a way out in the ceasefire which starts in less than half an hour.
09:21 : Just yesterday, Kherson Oblast was bombed in “58 covers”, announces the governor of the region Yaroslav Yanouchevych, on Telegram. Six people died, including “a 12-year-old boy” “killed by the Russians with his mother and father in his own house.”
09:05 : Here is a new summary of the news of this Friday, January 6:
#HEALTH Overwhelmed emergencies, closed or congested medical offices, saturated healthcare system… Emmanuel Macron unveils his health plan this morning from 10 a.m., from a hospital in Essonne.
The 36-hour ceasefire ordered by Vladimir Putin on the entire front line in Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas is due to start this noon. But the international community is skeptical. Follow our live.
Energy suppliers have an appointment this afternoon at the Ministry of the Economy. Yesterday, Emmanuel Macron asked them to “renegotiate” in January the “excessive contracts” of the very small enterprises concerned.
Failed again. For the third day in a row, Kevin McCarthy failed last night to unite his camp to be appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives. Twenty very conservative elected Republicans are still blocking his election. Debates should resume at the end of the afternoon.
08:45 : The Russian truce is proposed less than a week after the Ukrainian strike on Makiivka, and a few hours after the announcement of arms deliveries to kyiv by the West. However, concretely, apart from the long-range bombardments which affected the Ukrainian cities and infrastructures, on almost all of the 1000 km of front, the Russian army is on the defensive. We take stock with our journalist Eric Biegala.
(SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP)
08:10 : Due to the war in Ukraine, 453 children were killed and 877 seriously injured, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine reports on Telegram. Children were most affected in Donetsk oblast (429), then in Kharkiv (268) and finally in kyiv oblast (117).
07:42 : While the ceasefire should start in the middle of the morning, the Nikopol region was the target of Russian bombardments last night, reports on Telegram the governor Valentyn Reznichenko who evokes destroyed houses but no victims.
07:39 : But from Washington to London, via Berlin, the international community hardly believes in it. “If Putin wanted peace, he would bring his soldiers home and the war would be over. But apparently he wants to continue the war, after a brief hiatus”writes for example on Twitter, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
06:16 : This is the first major truce since the start of the invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago. The ceasefire decreed yesterday by Vladimir Putin “across the line of contact” must enter into force at noon (10 a.m. French time). It is supposed to last until Saturday evening midnight (10 p.m. French time).
06:22 : Let’s start with a first summary of the news of this Friday, January 6:
#HEALTH Overwhelmed emergencies, closed or congested medical offices, saturated healthcare system… Emmanuel Macron unveils his health plan this morning from 10 a.m., from a hospital in Essonne.
The 36-hour ceasefire ordered by Vladimir Putin on the entire front line in Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas is due to start this noon. But Volodymyr Zelensky sees in it a “apology in order to at least stop the advance” Ukrainian troops.
Energy suppliers have an appointment this afternoon at the Ministry of the Economy. Yesterday, Emmanuel Macron asked them to “renegotiate” in January the “excessive contracts” of the very small enterprises concerned.
Failed again. For the third day in a row, Kevin McCarthy failed last night to unite his camp to be appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives. Twenty very conservative elected Republicans are still blocking his election. Debates should resume at the end of the afternoon.