Russia ends self-declared ceasefire, vows to press ahead in Ukraine

Russia’s overnight bombing of regions in eastern Ukraine killed at least one, local officials said on January 8, after Moscow ended a self-declared Christmas ceasefire and vowed to push on with combat until it reaches a victory over its neighbour.

President Vladimir Putin ordered on Friday a 36-hour ceasefire along the line of contact to observe Russia and Ukraine's Orthodox Christmas, which fell on January 7. Ukraine had rejected the truce, and there was shelling along the frontline, The Globe and Mail reports.

A 50-year-old man died in the northeastern region of Kharkiv as a result of Russia’s shelling, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the region said on the Telegram messaging app. The news came minutes after midnight in Moscow.

Most Ukrainan Orthodox Christians have traditionally celebrated Christmas on January 7, as have Orthodox Christians in Russia. But this year, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the country’s largest, allowed also for a December 25 celebration. Still, many observed the holiday on January 7, flocking into churches and cathedrals.

The Kremlin said that Moscow will press ahead with what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine and which Kyiv and its Western allies call an unprovoked aggression to grab land.

“The tasks set by the president (Putin) for the special military operation will still be fulfilled,” the Russian state TASS agency quoted Putin’s first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, as saying.

“And there definitely will be a victory.”

There is no end in sight to the war, now in its 11th month, which has killed thousands, displaced millions and turned Ukrainian cities into rubble.

Ukrainian officials also reported blasts in regions that make up the broader Donbas region - the war’s front line where fighting has been raging for months.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region in Ukraine, said that there were nine missile strikes on the region overnight, including seven on the battered city of Kramatorsk. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties.