Kiev ( Ukraine ) - (AFP) - Ukrainians and Russians celebrated Orthodox Christmas on Saturday, as the unilateral ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin ended, without stopping fighting on the ground.

"Today the world was able to see once again how insincere all the speeches made at the highest level in Moscow are," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message released in the evening. He added, "They talked about an alleged cease-fire... but the truth is that Russian shells continued to bomb Bakhmut (east) and other Ukrainian sites," stressing that the only solution is "to expel the occupying Russians from Ukrainian lands."

And ended at midnight on Saturday (21:00 GMT) cease-fire announced by Moscow, as of Friday noon. Ukraine accused the Russian army of not respecting it, while Russia accused the Ukrainians of preventing its implementation, denouncing the continued Ukrainian artillery shelling of its positions.

And the Russian forces said that they had repelled, during the past twenty-four hours, a number of attacks launched by the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine, and that they had killed dozens of soldiers on Friday.

Ukraine considered the Russian armistice a "propaganda strike" to buy time. Washington, Paris, London, Berlin and the European Union condemned the declaration of the truce.

Agence France-Presse correspondents in the city of Chasev Yar in eastern Ukraine heard the sound of continuous shelling throughout the pre-noon period.

In Bakhmut, the epicenter of the battles, north of this city, on Friday, AFP correspondents recorded an exchange of artillery fire from both sides of the front in the hours following the entry into force of the unilateral ceasefire. However, the force of the blows was lighter compared to the previous days.

According to the Ukrainian Public Prosecution Office, two people were killed and 13 others were injured on Friday in Bakhmut, a large part of which was destroyed by the fighting, and that the two camps suffered heavy losses.

The Ukrainian authorities said that Russian forces also bombed the Kherson region (south) on Friday, killing a paramedic and wounding seven others.

In the Zaporizhia region (southeast), the local administration said that a United Nations mission that was distributing humanitarian aid in Orekhev had come under "enemy fire".

Saturday countries celebrate Christmas according to the Eastern calendar. Orthodox Christians make up the majority in Russia as well as in Ukraine.

In Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood alone during midnight mass in a church in the Kremlin.

In a message released by the Kremlin on Saturday, Putin congratulated Orthodox Christians on the holiday, saying that the occasion is a source of inspiration for "good deeds and aspirations."

He said that church associations "support our soldiers participating in a special military operation," using the Kremlin's official designation for the attack.

In Ukraine, hundreds of faithful participated on Saturday in a mass in the Kiev Caves Monastery, which was previously under the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate, but in December it came under the control of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

The service was performed by Metropolitan Epiphany, the head of this church, which became independent from the Moscow Patriarchate between 2018 and 2019.
"We waited a long time before this place was handed over to us. It is a truly historic event, which all Ukrainians have been waiting for," choir conductor Veronika Martiniuk, 19, told AFP.

Congregationalist Oksana Sopko, 47, said, "Every country has its own church. And we have our own - that's very good. A Ukrainian church, that's how it should be."

In Chasiv Yar, near the frontline, local residents huddled in a basement instead of going to church, fearing the bombing. Of the group of believers who numbered more than a hundred in this city, only nine remained.
"Thank God, we are gathered. That's enough," says Zinaida Artyukhina, 62, the only remaining member of the church choir.

Even if the ceasefire declared by Putin was respected, it would have provided only 36 hours of respite in an intense conflict that has been going on for nearly 11 months.

On Friday, the United States announced $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine, in a package that the White House said would include Bradley armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers and self-propelled howitzers.

"This year of victory has just begun," the Ukrainian presidency said, adding that the US "package" also includes HIMARS precision missiles and Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft missiles.

This came after a German government spokesman announced on Friday that his country would send 40 Marder armored vehicles to the Ukrainian army in the first quarter of 2023, in the first announcement of a concrete delivery of this type of equipment.

Western arms supplies are essential to Kiev and have enabled it, in particular, to carry out an effective counterattack, which removed Russian forces from the Kharkiv region in the northeast and from the city of Kherson in the south.

The front was largely frozen by the winter, but Ukraine expressed its fear of a new Russian attack.

Meanwhile, the British government announced Saturday that the UK will host a meeting of justice ministers in March to discuss ways to support the International Criminal Court's investigation into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, is currently conducting an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity that may have been committed in Ukraine.