Washington, Jan 5 (AFP\/APP): US President Joe Biden said Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s order for a two-day Orthodox Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine was simply an effort to find breathing room for his war effort.<\/p>\n
“He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches” on December 25 and on New Year’s Day, Biden said, adding: “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”<\/p>\n
State Department spokesman Ned Price called Putin’s ceasefire “cynical,” saying, “We have little faith in the intentions behind this announcement.”<\/p>\n
He voiced concern that Russia would use the break to “regroup, to rest and ultimately to re-attack” and said that Putin may seek to “fool the world” by making it seem that he wants peace.<\/p>\n
“This does not appear to be a change in the tide of the war,” he said.<\/p>\n
“If Russia were truly serious about peace, about ending this war, it would withdraw its forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, Jan 5 (AFP\/APP): US President Joe Biden said Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s order for a two-day Orthodox Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine was simply an effort to find breathing room for his war effort. “He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and […]<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n