Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv accuses Putin of breaking his own ceasefire

Reports of strikes on Ukraine’s frontline after Vladimir Putin ordered a truce to observe Russian Orthodox Christmas

Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has continued at a “routine level” into the Orthodox Christmas period, the UK Ministry of Defence says.

In its daily intelligence update, the ministry said that in the fiercely contested area around Kremina town in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province, fighting was focused in heavily forested terrain to the town’s west, where “combat has devolved to dismounted infantry fighting, often at short range”.

With the coniferous woodland providing some cover from air observation even in winter, both sides are highly likely struggling to accurately adjust artillery fire.

Russian commanders will highly likely view pressure around Kremina as a threat to the right flank of their Bakhmut sector, which they see as key for enabling any future advance to occupy the remainder of Donetsk Oblast.

What can a church holiday mean for them? They are shelling every day and night and almost every day there are people killed

You can never trust them, never ... Whatever they promise, they don’t deliver.