LIVE TEXT The war in Ukraine, day 317. Putin’s truce takes effect at 12:00 / Kremlin unilateral decision, criticized in unison / Putin’s ally fights to control salt and gypsum mines near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut

UPDATE 11am Recent satellite images show the impact of fighting in the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Images taken on Wednesday reveal extensive destruction of buildings, homes, infrastructure and fields in and around Bakhmut, space technology company Maxar said.

The image claims to show the satellite view of the suburbs of Artyomovsk-Bakhmut, Donetsk Republic, with the ground completely cratered like the moon by bomb and artillery impacts.
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UPDATE 10:00 Putin’s announcement that Russian forces will maintain a 36-hour ceasefire over the Russian Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7 is likely a publicity operation designed to damage Ukraine’s reputation, according to the US Institute for the Study of War.

The think tank said Ukrainian and Western officials see this as hypocrisy, as Russian forces continue to strike Ukraine’s military and infrastructure on December 25, when many Orthodox Ukrainians also celebrate the New Year.

UPDATE 09:00 A Putin ally is fighting to control salt and gypsum mines near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, US says

A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is interested in taking control of salt and gypsum mines near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, according to a White House official.

UPDATE 08:00 Zelenskiy rejects Russian ceasefire, saying war will end ‘when your soldiers leave’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially rejected a Russian order for a truce to mark Russia’s Orthodox Christmas, which starts at noon on Friday and ends at midnight on Saturday. He said it was a ploy to stop the advance of Ukrainian forces in the Donbass region in the east of the country and bring more forces out of Moscow.

UPDATE 07:00 The US State Department defines the ceasefire proposal as “cynical”

In Washington, US President Joe Biden, the State Department and the Pentagon greeted Putin’s order with skepticism. Biden said he thought Putin was “trying to find some oxygen.”

UPDATE 00:30 Zelensky, on Putin’s truce: a cover to stop our advance in Donbass

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is using the so-called “truce” to halt, at least for a while, the advance of Ukrainian armed forces in the east.

“Now they want to use the ‘Orthodox Christmas’ as a cover to stop the advance of our guys into Donbass for a while and bring equipment, ammunition and resources closer to our positions. What will be the result? Just another increase in the number of losses,” Zelensk said in his evening address.

And Joe Biden says Putin is aiming to buy time, an opinion shared by the EU official Charles Michelwho puts him against the wall and calls the Kremlin leader a “hypocrite”.

UPDATE 00:00 From the US a new military aid to Kiev worth almost 3 billion dollars

The new military aid that the United States is preparing to send to Ukraine amounts to 2.85 billion dollars. This was anticipated by Biden administration officials who asked to remain anonymous until all the details of the package are defined, which will probably be officially announced tomorrow. Among the aid, as President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in a joint note, Washington will offer Kiev, for the first time, “a few dozen” Bradley armored vehicles.

Bradleys are armored fighting vehicles used to transport infantry to battlefields. The vehicle has tracks instead of wheels, but is easy to maneuver. Bradleys can carry up to 10 troops. The aid package will also include Humvees, mine-resistant MRAP vehicles and a large amount of rocket and artillery ammunition.