The West seeks to “divide and conquer”, denounced Vladimir Putin on Sunday, justifying the Kremlin’s military offensive against Ukraine which has lasted for more than 10 months to allow, according to him, “the union of the Russian people” .
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However, in kyiv, the day after deadly bombardments in the south of the country, the Ukrainian Orthodox celebrated Christmas, a strong sign of distrust towards the Russian religious authorities, who will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in two weeks.
“Everything is based on the policy of our geopolitical adversaries, who aim to divide Russia, historic Russia,” denounced Vladimir Putin in an interview, a short extract of which was broadcast on Russian television on Sunday.
The Russian president regularly uses the concept of “historical Russia” to justify military intervention in Ukraine by the need to bring together Ukrainians and Russians, who would form one and the same people.
“+ Divide and conquer+: they have always tried to do it, they are trying to do it now, but our objective is quite different: to unite the Russian people”, he said.
According to Vladimir Putin, the Russian army is “moving in the right direction” in Ukraine.
And he promised that Russian troops would eliminate the Patriot air defense system, which kyiv obtained this week from the Americans after several weeks of asking for it.
“Of course, we will destroy it, 100%! “Launched Vladimir Putin, three days after asserting that his army would find” an antidote “to counter” this fairly old system “.
In addition to the Patriot system, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left his visit to the United States with a promise of $45 billion in aid provided for in the next American federal budget.
If the Russian general staff has confirmed that it aims to conquer the entire industrial region of Donetsk, Volodymyr Zelensky has sworn to him that he wants to take back the four Ukrainian regions annexed at the end of September by Russia – Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijjia, Kherson -, as well as the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.
“Dark” end of the year
In his daily speech, Volodymyr Zelensky castigated the Russian “terrorists” who carried out bombings on Saturday against the city center of Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine taken over on November 11 after eight months of occupation by troops from Moscow.
The central market and adjacent streets were bombed, killing at least 10 and injuring 55, an act of “terror” according to Mr. Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president thanked “all those who came to Kherson to help” to “save the wounded” and more generally all those who make the country work despite the conflict.
He also called on Ukrainians to prepare for new attacks by the end of the year. “We must be aware that our enemy will try to make this moment dark and difficult.”
Over the day, Russia fired 41 missiles at the city, according to a morning report from the Ukrainian military.
Vladimir Saldo, head of the pro-Russian administration in Kherson, blamed the attack on the Ukrainian army, castigating “a sickening provocation aimed of course at accusing the armed forces of the Russian Federation”.
Rejection of “Russian influence”
Sunday in kyiv, Orthodox celebrated Christmas, alongside Catholics.
“The war has brought us so much grief,” faithful Olga Stanko told AFP in a downtown church. “We cannot remain under Russian influence,” she added, as the military conflict has shifted to religious terrain in recent weeks.
Ukraine, a country whose population is predominantly Orthodox, is indeed divided between a Church dependent on the Moscow Patriarchate – which announced that it was severing its ties with Russia at the end of May due to the Russian offensive – and an independent Church of Russian supervision.
Created at the end of 2018, the latter has pledged allegiance to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which has its headquarters in Istanbul.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine poll conducted in November, 44% of Ukrainians said they approved of the idea of celebrating Christmas on December 25 rather than January 7, the date of the Orthodox Christmas.
During his traditional Christmas message in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Francis called on him to “silence the guns” on Ukrainian soil.
“May the Lord make us ready for concrete gestures of solidarity to help those who are suffering, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the guns and put an immediate end to this senseless war!” “said the sovereign pontiff.
