KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his armed forces to observe a unilateral 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Orthodox Christmas holiday, the first such sweeping truce move in the nearly 11-month-old war. Kyiv indicated it won't follow suit.
Watch the briefing in the player above.
Putin did not appear to make his cease-fire order conditional on Ukraine's acceptance, and it wasn't clear whether hostilities would actually halt on the 1,100-kilometer (684-mile) front line or elsewhere. Ukrainian officials have previously dismissed such Russian moves as playing for time to regroup their invasion forces and prepare additional attacks.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington had "little faith in the intentions behind this announcement," adding that Kremlin officials "have given us no reason to take anything that they offer at face value."
At various points during the war that began Feb. 24, Russian authorities have ordered limited, local truces to allow civilian evacuations or other humanitarian purposes. Thursday's order was the first time Putin has directed his troops to observe a cease-fire throughout Ukraine.
"Based on the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the combat areas, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease-fire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ," according to Putin's order to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, published on the Kremlin's website.
"It does not appear to be a strategic change in in Russia's plan or its approach," Price said. "It appears to be a bid to continue to do what it has inflicted upon the Ukrainian people for nearly a year now as it seeks to rest, refit, regroup, and ultimately reattack."
Putin's order didn't specify whether it would apply to both offensive and defensive operations. It wasn't clear, for example, whether Russia would strike back if Ukraine kept fighting.
Ukrainian officials dismissed Putin's move.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Russian forces "must leave the occupied territories — only then will it have a 'temporary truce.' Keep hypocrisy to yourself."
Ukraine's National Security Council chief Oleksiy Danilov told Ukrainian TV: "We will not negotiate any truces with them."
He also tweeted: "What does a bunch of little Kremlin devils have to do with the Christian holiday of Christmas? Who will believe an abomination that kills children, fires at maternity homes and tortures prisoners? A cease-fire? Lies and hypocrisy. We will bite you in the singing silence of the Ukrainian night."
U.S. President Joe Biden said it was "interesting" that Putin was ready to bomb hospitals, nurseries and churches on Christmas and New Year's. "I think he's trying to find some oxygen," he said, without elaborating.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric welcomed the move but said it "will not replace a just peace in line with the U.N. Charter and International law."
Putin acted after the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, proposed a truce from noon Friday through midnight Saturday Moscow time (0900 GMT Friday to 2100 GMT Saturday; 4 a.m. EST Friday to 3 p.m. EST Saturday). The Orthodox Church, which uses the Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7 — later than the Gregorian calendar — although some Ukrainian Christians also mark the holiday on that date.