No sooner had the ceasefire declared by Kremlin chief Putin expired than several Ukrainian regions once again issued an air alert. The governor of Kharkiv also speaks of new attacks and calls on the city's residents to seek protection.
Shortly after the official end of the ceasefire declared by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the authorities in the region around the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv reported several explosions. "Attention to the residents of Kharkiv and the region: stay in shelters. The occupiers are striking again!" Governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram.
According to initial information, there is one fatality, Synehubov said. Almost immediately after 10:00 p.m. CET, an air alert was also declared in the Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Luhansk regions and on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia.
On Thursday, Putin unilaterally ordered a 36-hour ceasefire, citing Christmas, which many Orthodox Christians celebrate on January 7, as the reason. Kyiv rejected the Russian advance as hypocritical from the start, and many international observers also spoke of a pure propaganda gesture.
While the ceasefire was officially in effect, Moscow admitted that it would continue to counter Ukrainian attacks in the frontline. According to Ukrainian sources, two civilians also died as a result of Russian shelling in the city of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk.
